Government and International Politics

Ian Candy’s First Year: Combining Politics, Neuroscience, and Forensics—to Help Others

Andrew J Schappert — Wed, 14 Aug 2024 14:00:36 +0000

Ian Candy’s First Year: Combining Politics, Neuroscience, and Forensics—to Help Others Andrew J Schappert Wed, 08/14/2024 - 10:00

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Ian Candy’s interest in politics developed early, at age 10, when he found he enjoyed watching political news shows with his parents instead of cartoons.

“My parents love watching the news,” he said. “And oddly enough, I enjoyed it. I ended up becoming very invested with the political side of the news…. This love for democracy that was planted in me as a child has only grown. The roots of this seed have cemented, making the study of government and international politics dear to my heart.”

Ian Candy: ‘It is no secret that our democracy can light up a room in a second, but just as quickly cover it in shadows.’

As a first-year student at the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University, Candy will major in government and international politics at a Carnegie Research 1 institution that happens to be located just a few miles from Washington, D.C. Both of those were “huge check marks on my list” of potential schools, he said.

“It is no secret that our democracy can light up a room in a second, but just as quickly cover it in shadows,” he said. “No stranger to governmental legislation targeting my communities, I have and will continue to advocate for anyone facing those shadows.”

The South Dakota native will double major in neuroscience at George Mason’s College of Science, a program that prepares students for medical and health-related fields.

“I truly believe that the breadth of both fields lends themselves to a great deal of intersectionality not seen in many other double majors,” he said. “Neuroscience captivates me, but imperatively, I feel a duty to study this field.”

Candy said that “the people in my life that are closest to me have and continue to struggle with mental illness and brain function disorders. Researching the causes and solutions to ‘give back’ [to those in need] would be incredibly fulfilling.”

Candy is convinced that he can overcome what he calls “the ambiguous intersectionality between neuroscience and government” with a third interest of his: storytelling. In fact, the University Scholar and Honors College student will hone his storytelling skills as a member of George Mason’s forensics team, which placed second in the nation in 2024.

“What I found most remarkable about him was that he is very engaging and likeable,” said forensics director Dawn Lowry, who recruited Candy at the National Speech and Debate Association’s high school expo in Des Moines, Iowa. “He has a great energy and when he is into something, he wants to know everything about that subject.”

Meeting Lowry and other members of the team made Candy feel “welcomed and at home, just from the few conversations I had,” he said.

While a career path is still uncertain for the new college student, “I hope to achieve what 10-year-old me envisioned: to help other people.

“Whether that looks like a career defending others in the courtroom, providing psychiatric assistance to patients, drafting science and technology-based policy, or working on something that doesn’t even exist yet, helping others—while hearing and advocating for their stories—is my main goal.”

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Schar School News for August 2024

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Schar School Seniors’ Peripatetic Childhoods Shaped Interests in National Security, Help Win Scholarships

Andrew J Schappert — Tue, 11 Jul 2023 12:21:15 +0000

Schar School Seniors’ Peripatetic Childhoods Shaped Interests in National Security, Help Win Scholarships Andrew J Schappert Tue, 07/11/2023 - 08:21

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Aarush Jambunathan: ‘All of my Schar [School] classes have had a major effect on me, and they've consistently been my favorites.’ Photos by Honors College Communication Team

Two rising Schar School of Policy and Government seniors are among the 10 George Mason University recipients of the competitive Stu Shea Peraton Scholarship presented earlier this year at the Mason Honors College 15th Annual Research Exhibition and Awards ceremony.

Funded by Peraton, a Northern-Virginia cyber-oriented national security contractor, the scholarship is named for Shea, the CEO of the firm and the 2022 Mason commencement speaker. The scholarship awards future leaders in the national security field up to $10,000 towards their academic studies. To receive the scholarship, recipients must submit a 1,500-word essay detailing their forward-thinking solutions to current and future national security issues as well as transcripts, letters of recommendation, and a resumé. They are also interviewed by a panel of judges. This year there were nearly 200 applications for the award.

The two Schar School recipients are Aarush Jambunathan, a member of the Schar School’s new one-of-a-kind bachelor’s degree program in International Security and Law, and Sebastian Rodinov, a government and international politics major.

Jambunathan, who said he developed resiliency and adaptability as a child moving around the globe with his family, is the Speaker Pro Tempore of Mason’s student government and is spending the summer in London as a research intern for the nonprofit Action on Armed Violence.

While both Jambunathan and Rodionov received this award as students in the Honors College, it was Schar School professors and related opportunities that had the greatest impact on obtaining their scholarships.

“All of my Schar [School] classes have had a major effect on me, and they've consistently been my favorites,” said Jambunathan. “Specific to the scholarship essay, it was former ambassador Greg Delawie’s diplomacy course. A lot of the things I wrote about were line items learned in the course.” Delawie was ambassador to Kosovo from 2015 to 2018.

Sebastian Rodinov: ‘I’m a very social person who enjoys collaboration, which is why a degree in diplomacy and policy at the Schar School is much more meaningful to me.’

Like his classmate, Rodinov also experienced a peripatetic childhood. Born in Novosibirsk, Russia’s third-largest city, he emigrated to the United States with his mother, an American citizen, and moved from San Francisco to Chicago to Maryland before landing at Mason.

Interests in national security and foreign policy are recent developments, he said. In the beginning, he was a science, technology, engineering, and math major.

“I was given advice to move away from STEM,” he said, “because people in those fields work long hours and in work in isolated situations, and I’m a very social person who enjoys collaboration, which is why a degree in diplomacy and policy at the Schar School is much more meaningful to me.”

For Rodionov, it was a Schar School study-abroad trip to Cuba which ultimately inspired the contents for his winning essay. Instead of proposing unique, forward-looking solutions to modern security challenges, Rodionov instead proposed what he could potentially gain from an insider perspective in Cuba.

“[The United States] doesn’t pay attention to developments in Cuba, and we don’t send people there,” he said. “It was interesting to get their perspective on what goes on in their country and how their people feel.”

For now, the future looks bright for these Schar School seniors. While Jambunathan will continue to use his talents towards becoming a foreign service officer, Rodionov looks forward to allocating his scholarship funds to a master’s degree program in international relations.

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Government and International Politics

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Schar School News July 2023

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Kevin Nazar

gsehgal2 — Wed, 29 Mar 2023 16:46:29 +0000

Kevin Nazar gsehgal2 Wed, 03/29/2023 - 12:46

Graduate Teaching Assistant

Contact Information

Email: dnazar@gmu.edu
Phone: 703.993.1110
Mailstop: Honors College, MSN 1F4
Campus: Fairfax
Office: Buchanan 205

Biography

Kevin Nazar, M.S. is a Graduate Teaching Assistant at the Honors College and a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Sociology at George Mason University. He received his Master’s degree in Political Science and Philosophy from Universidad Mayor de San Andres in Bolivia and has a graduate certificate in International Development from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. Prior to coming to Mason, Kevin was a consultant for several United Nations agencies in Latin America.