Written by Emmanuella Agyemang, Communications Intern | October 17, 2023 | SHARE
While most interns spend their summers at internships with companies or in the workforce, Hasan Jashari ‘24, spent the summer monitoring the work of the United Nations (UN) Security Council while serving as an intern for the Belgian Mission to the UN. As a dual major in International Relations and Economics, he is the first student since the LU/UN Partnership was formed to serve as an intern for a UN Mission. Prior to this role, he actively participated in the Lehigh University/United Nations Partnership (LU/UN) and various United Nations-related initiatives throughout his time at Lehigh.
As a Belgium native, Jashari's passion for fostering economic growth has led to his initiation of several globally focused campus organizations. He founded the Economic Society, served as the President of the World Affairs Club, and previously held the position of President and co-founder of the United Nations Association USA Lehigh Chapter.
When elaborating on his zeal for creating or re-starting the clubs he is currently participating in, Jashari said, “I’m passionate about the United Nations…The World Affairs club existed for a while, but it stopped during COVID, so I helped bring that back,” he continued saying, “And that's the space where students [with] different backgrounds, different majors, different interests, different beliefs [and] values, come together and have discussions.”
Jashari knew that it would take a village to continue to run clubs like the World Affairs and the Economic Society, so he wanted to be sure that students on campus were also given the opportunity to become part of clubs that would develop members to someday influence the world.
“The idea there was really to get students to engage [with] what happens outside of our community in a critical way,” he said, “Also build that kind of intercultural international understanding of the critical consciousness of what's happening in the world around us, and how we can translate into our lives”
Before his admission into Lehigh University, Jashari attended The United World College of South East Asia—an international high school in Singapore—where he earned a Bilingual Diploma in the International Baccalaureate in History, Global Politics in Dutch and Literature and Biology, Mathematics in English.
Jashari said, “I was surrounded by people from over 100 different nationalities…there was a big focus outside of the classroom on global affairs. Nine [times] out of 10 we had a student at our school that was linked to something happening around the world.”
Upon starting his first semester at Lehigh, the experiences he encountered during his attendance at an international high school would ignite his passion for participating in programs like the LU/UN Partnership and declaring majors in international relations and economics.
“That's why I double majored, [to] help me understand the world today, how it's like, why certain things are taking place or why certain things occur. [It’s important to] understand and get a better sense of [the] world to hopefully make an impact in the long term.” Jashari said.
In the future, Jashari hopes to pursue a career in economic development by attending graduate school and participating in internships and opportunities that focus on development in post-conflict zones.