In August, Paukert will travel to the Ukraine, where she will spend the following year. "Sybil plans to study nuclear production and the Chernobyl meltdown on Ukrainian attitudes toward expanding nuclear capabilities in the future," said Fellowship Director Denise Gagnon.
"I will be talking with people about their attitudes toward nuclear power," said Paukert. She added that she will also be investigating the Ukraine's current state and effects of U.S. aid to the region, as well as developing plans of how the U.S. could more effectively provide aid. "What happens to all that aid is that it disappears into this bureaucratic black hole," she said.
"Through independent research and formal study of international relations, Sybil hopes to gain a better understanding of Ukrainian concerns in the international arena," added Gagnon.
Been around the world
Paukert's opportunity to study in the Ukraine was made possible by the Fulbright Scholarship she won this spring for international relations. "I guess I applied because it would be wonderful to get it, and just the experience of applying was really positive," she said. She added that the application experience allowed her to meet students and professors that she would not have met otherwise. "I didn't expect it," she said, "but I am thrilled that I actually got it."
Paukert is an international relations and Russian double major. International relations is not an official Amherst major, but she was able to make it an interdisciplinary study. "My dad got me interested in [international relations] when I was really young. We used to watch the news together and read the newspaper ... It just kind of grew from there," she said.
Part of her major in international relations required that Paukert study two languages in college, and now she can speak both Russian and Chinese. While Chinese was new to her in college, Paukert has studied Russian since high school. She studied abroad in St. Petersburg her junior year. It was there that she got the idea to do work in the Ukraine. "A politics teacher that I had in St. Petersburg inspired me to go and study in the Ukraine," she said.
"I'd like to work in international relations as a kind of facilitator between cultures either working for the government or private companies," Paukert said of her plans for the future.
Communist manifesto
This year Paukert took on another daunting task. As part of her interdisciplinary major she was required to complete a thesis. The topic of Paukert's senior thesis project was "The Alliance System Among Communist Nations in Indochina During the Vietnam War."
In addition to her schoolwork, Paukert has pursued a number of extracurricular activities at Amherst. "I have ridden with the equestrian team for four years," she said. "I am also the chair of Listening to Our Bodies." Paukert also dances and has taken a number of dance classes offered at Amherst.
"I feel like a small college has allowed me to do a wide variety of things," she said. "It has been really vital for me to have some athletic and creative outlets … and I have met some really great people."
"I found the Amherst community to be very supportive," Paukert said in reflection of her four years at the College. "This place has been the perfect fit for me and I have had the opportunity to tailor my education to the areas I am interested in."
Concerning her immediate future, Paukert said, "I plan to do this year in the Ukraine. Then after that I plan to take a year to teach English in Shanghai, China. After that year I will go to graduate school, and will likely pursue a degree in international relations."