Katherine “Kasia” Sumarowski, a recent graduate in Public Administration and International Relations at CSU, Chico, spent her last semester as an undergraduate enrolled in a study abroad program at Zeppelin Universitat in Friedrichshafen, Germany, on Lake Konstanz. This was Sumarowski’s home for much of the spring 2011 semester, where she explained: “We eat buttered pretzels for breakfast and I can see Austria, the Swiss Alps, and Switzerland from the Lake.”
In addition to her regular university coursework, in May, Sumarowski embarked on an extensive research project to examine the effectiveness of an anti-human trafficking initiative in the country of Latvia. Her travel and research was funded in part by a CSU, Chico Research and Creativity grant, awarded her in 2010.
In Riga, Latvia, Sumarowski interviewed stake-holders and other actors responsible for Latvia's anti-human trafficking efforts. In particular, she evaluated the impact of United States policy on trafficking in Latvia, specifically the work of the U.S. State Department's Cross-Sector Solutions and the International Organizations for Adolescents. “My findings revealed many things, but most of all, how policy, nonprofit, and governmental advocacy and community can come together to impact the deplorable crime of human trafficking.”
After completing her research project and her spring semester studies in Germany, Sumarowski spent the next couple of months visiting friends and family and traveling around Europe, including Milano, Italy; Nyborg, Denmark; Poznan, Poland; Zurich, Switzerland, and other parts of Germany and Italy. She notes of her travels, “As an American, it is one intense cultural immersion, but one I am happy to be a part of and learn from.”
Now that she has officially graduated, Sumarowski is currently exploring job and internship opportunities, considering graduate study in public policy, public management, or business administration, and possibly pursuing a Fulbright in Latvia or Brazil to continue her work against human trafficking.