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Monday, January 13, 2014

Boyd Student Katelyn Cantu Earns Externship in Paris

On top of excitement and anxiousness, Katelyn Cantu might be feeling jetlag at the law school convocation program in May.

“Convocation is on the 16th, and I think I get back on the 14th,” she said.

Cantu will be getting back from Paris, where she is spending her last semester of law school working as an extern for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), a specialized agency of the United Nations dedicated to increasing peace and security among nations.

“I’m really excited. I’m looking forward to being in a different environment. I’m not nervous at all. I’m prepared to go. And what I’m going to be working on is really interesting to me, so that makes me especially excited,” she said.

In her role, which begins at the end of January, Cantu will assist in the follow-up of the eighth meeting of the Committee for the Protection of Cultural Property in the event of Armed Conflict, the 10th meeting of the High Contracting Parties to the 1954 Hague Convention, and the fifth meeting of the Parties to the Second Protocol. She will also draft correspondence, memoranda, and documents for statutory bodies, including the Committee for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict and its Bureau.

Cantu learned that she earned the position in November.

“Until that point, I’d been looking a lot for a job for after graduation. Not having something lined up was causing a lot of stress, so I was very relieved when I got the call,” Cantu said. “I’m hoping this will open doors to lots of opportunities.”

“In my career, I want to work in international humanitarian law or human rights, working with victims of war crimes or refugees,” she continued. “I’ve done a lot of traveling. Because it’s so real to me, because I’ve been in it and seen it, I can’t forget about it.”