Nicole Heydari Update

An Update on Nicole Heydari via communications with Bill Davis. Quite a young lady.

Nicole Heydari was the recipient of $2,500 District Grants from each of the R.C. s of Houston and Humble Intercontinental with a $5,000 match from our district to help fund her first year course of study towards a Master's Degree in Advanced International Studies at the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna.She is in the process of applying for a Fulbright scholarship to help fund her second year program.

Bill Davis

From: Nicole Heydari [mailto:nicole.heydari@gmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, November 02, 2011 10:51 AM
To: Bill Davis
Subject: Greetings from Vienna

Hi Bill

Good to hear from you.

The year is going well and I am very happy with the classes and international atmosphere. I actually have a pretty heavy course/work load since I'm taking 10 classes this term. I realize that if I get the security clearance on time to do the OSCE (Organization for Security and co-operation in Europe) internship next term then my course load for that term would need to be reduced, so I'm taking as many classes I can this term to make up for it.

I've been following Felipe's emails on the prison kids project and I'm glad to see that despite the challenges things seem to be progressing.

As for the Fulbright scholarship (funding my second year) I had a skype interview with the panel- which was interesting actually since they could see me but they did not put the video so that I could see them. Based on the interview one of the government professors from Georgetown took a special interest in my proposal and offered to review my final revised version prior to submission. He thought my proposal is strong, but we'll see. The award will be announced early next year (probably in January-February 2012)

Something that the Academy here does is that they raise money through the student bar, organizing a conference and also a ball and all of it goes to a charity. I nominated a Mexican organization in Juarez that focuses on mentoring youth by supporting them to finish school and through vocational training so that they do not join drug cartels and then become major targets for hit men and rival cartels- which is something that has been going on quite a lot there. Unfortunately my organization came in second place and this year the money will be going to an organization in Nicaragua that builds houses. I am actually very interested, however, in the situation in Juarez and in particular the community policing projects and thought of making some contacts there to inform myself further and see if there is any way I could become involved.

On another note, there is an organization "Spirit of America " which is interested in sending me to Afghanistan as a field representative. It is a particularly interesting position because they embed with the military and provide humanitarian aid originating from private donors. I will probably be doing this over my summer break (July-Sept- 3 months) depending on what their needs are next year.

Looks like you have some nice travel plans ! I have never been to Thailand but I hope to go there soon. Hope the situation is better there when you go!

I am thinking of flying to Houston then Mexico over Christmas break but have not bought the ticket yet---looks like prices are still in 1000-1400 range.

Hope you're well!

Nicole