Class of 2013 Student Profiles

Katie Plathonoff , 2013, Egypt

On collaboration and teamwork: I joined The Fletcher School in order to acquire a completely new skill set. Needless to say, after having successfully avoided numbers through five years of law school, the few calculations and formulas I have to deal with in my Development Economics or Public Policy Analysis classes are mountains to climb. What I love about Fletcher is that I can join a study group, in which a former economics professor, a finance specialist, and a political science major are all willing to sit with me as long as it takes to make sure I walk into our quiz the next day with the confidence of a pro!

On my classroom experience at Fletcher: Each week, I can’t wait for my Arabs and Their Neighbors class. Professors Leila Fawaz and Ibrahim Warde lecture together about what is happening in the Middle East today and the history leading up to it. Although I am Egyptian Lebanese, and I presumably already have a background on the content of the course, I sit and listen with much fascination to what my professors and classmates say, as I finally have the opportunity to hear "the other side" of "my" story.