Jacquie Antonson, ICAR M.S. Student and Events Coordinator

Observant readers of the newsletter may have noticed recurrent contributions by ICAR’s new Events Coordinator, and M.S. student, Jacquie Antonson. As Events Coordinator, her job is challenging and requires a great investment of personal energy.  However, Jacquie sees this as a blessing because it allows her to keep her finger on the pulse of ICAR, making connections throughout its community on a daily basis.

A native of upstate New York, Jacquie studied at Middlebury College, majoring in Theater and English.  After graduating, Jacquie worked extensively in the Balkans, where she is director of her own non-governmental organization, f-r-e-e.  Friendship, Respect, Education and Engagement (f-r-e-e) is a peacebuilding organization that seeks to empower the next generation of Bosnians. Jacquie explains, “we work solely with the youth population, which in my opinion is the group of people who will be the change makers of Bosnian society.  How well they are able to make transformative change will depend on their ability to interact with one another.” f-r-e-e currently works in the central Bosnian city of Zenica, bringing together populations of ostracized children for month-long friendship and trust-building camps.

Although only in her first semester, Jacquie already feels at home in ICAR’s academic community.  "I love it!" she extols.  Hoping to strengthen her existing interests in post-conflict development, Jacquie seeks to focus on education reform and post-conflict education.  She would like to proceed to a Ph.D., with the ultimate goal of a university teaching position whilst continuing her work with f-r-e-e.  She hopes to expand existing projects and ensure that they run more consistently through out the year.  Clearly, Jacquie’s ambitions are those of a scholar-practitioner, a hallmark of the ICAR community.