Eric Nevalsky

SFS ’16
Age: 19
Hometown: Los Altos, Calif.
Major: Science, Technology, and International Affairs
Concentration: Business Growth and Development

Why did you come to Georgetown?
One, coming from California, I wanted to go to an East Coast school, and second, I wanted to study international relations, while my parents really wanted me to do business. With Georgetown, I was able to convince my parents that doing international relations would make me more successful than doing business because of the reputation of the School of Foreign Service. I was initially freaked out about the Jesuit part of the school because I came from a Jesuit high school and had a great experience there, but I, as a gay man, wanted somewhere where I felt like I could be more open about it and wasn’t sure if Georgetown was a place that I could do that. So, after talking to Shiva [Sivagami Subbaraman] and some out students that she referred me to, they told me a lot about the school and the pros and cons of going to Georgetown as an LGBTQ-identified student. What I really liked was that they said that Georgetown wasn’t perfect. It wasn’t a liberal paradise like [U.C.] Berkeley or Brown, and people couldn’t just walk around however they wanted to, but it was definitely progressing rapidly and making changes on these issues. Something that they enjoyed, and that I have really learned to enjoy, is being in that space where you feel like you can make a difference, because at Georgetown, there is still so much you can do to make the campus more inclusive and everything. It was a good decision, I think.

How has being an RA changed your perspective as a student? Why did you decide to return as an RA next year?
Being an RA has been really interesting because it’s showed me the administrative side of the school more, because as a student, you can agree or disagree with policies and you’re free to do that, but as an RA, you have to enforce policies whether or not you agree, and it’s given me perspective into why they have these policies and the rationale behind it. Also, I really enjoyed the fact that being an RA has forced me to go outside my comfort zone and introduce myself to people living on my floor and become more involved in the residence hall community. I think that while it was awkward at first, it’s really evolved into something that I’ve really begun to enjoy because I see the community that’s formed in my common room and the friendships that have formed, not just between the residents but also between me and the residents. I no longer see my residents only as residents, but I also consider them to be close friends of mine, and I’m not sure if I would’ve formed these relationships if I just lived on the floor and wasn’t an RA.

STIA is one of the newer majors in the SFS. As a student, do you feel like there is enough variety of classes for you so far?
I don’t think so. While I love being a STIA major, something that’s been really challenging when I go to preregister for classes is there’s only three to five classes that are in the concentration, and deciding whether or not I want to take those classes is challenging because often they don’t pertain to my interests. Recently, when I was at the SFS student faculty banquet, I noticed that there was a maximum of five professors in the STIA program — I originally thought it was much bigger. While I appreciate that I’ve met all of them and have a good relationship with them already, I assumed that there would be more professors so that I would be able to find a professor that I really connected with and would really be able to see as a mentor because they were in the field that I wanted to go into. So far, though, I haven’t really found that. Because STIA is such a broad subject and encompasses so many different areas of study and work, I think it’s difficult for a faculty of five to cover that wide variety — I mean, there’s four concentrations, so that’s like one per concentration, and it doesn’t even line up like that.

What is something that you’ve done at Georgetown that you never thought you’d ever do?
I guess working at the LGBTQ Resource Center. Like I said earlier, I came from a Jesuit high school. While all my friends there were very liberal, it was institutionally very conservative about LGBTQ issues. For example, instead of a Gay Straight Alliance (GSA), we were called the Gay Straight Christian Life Community, which was just an excuse to get it past the bishop. So coming from that background and deciding to go to another Jesuit school, and I never thought I’d be able to be comfortable enough to work at something like the LGBTQ Resource Center, which forces me to be very out and public and open about my LGBTQ identity.

What is something that you would change about Georgetown, if you could?
I wish that Georgetown wasn’t so constrained by its Catholic identity. I think the fact that it is Jesuit and Catholic adds a layer of depth to discussions that’s really amazing, but I hate that it so often is the limiting factor in providing students a lot of the things they need around the issues of contraception or housing and other issues. I think that Georgetown would be able to serve those parts of the student body better if it wasn’t always trying to follow the Catholic teachings. I think the Jesuit community has always been one that’s forward thinking in the Catholic Church, and I see that at Georgetown through things like the LGBTQ Resource Center, but I feel like we need to carry that spirit even more forward.

After graduation, what would you dream job be?
Broadly, what I’d love to do is use technology to incite social change, because we see that a lot in modern revolutions. And, modern social changes are often brought about by new social media and new ways of communicating, and I think that’s amazing, but I don’t have a specific job title in mind.

What description of yourself would you find most flattering?
I would say trustworthy, compassionate and eccentric. I’ve always wanted to be eccentric, and I think that I am an eccentric person. If you really get to know me, then you’ll see how truly weird I am, and I think that eccentric is just a fancy way of saying that.

Interview by Penny Hung