Neighbors are important. I learned that growing up on a farm in rural North Dakota near the border with Manitoba. And I learned that while living in the tiny landlocked country of Armenia. These experiences, among others, have piqued my interest in what it means to be a good neighbor. As a result, I’ve become increasingly interested in Mexico, our neighbor to the south, and with whom the U.S. has a complicated, interdependent, and ever-evolving relationship.

The answer is “no” if that person is Kailash Satyarthi. His exuberant child within shines forth as strongly today as when I first had the honor of meeting Kailash-ji in 2003 in New Delhi along with his team in Bachpan Bachao Andolan (Save the Childhood Movement).

Halfway through March, I joined a team of five graduate students from the Carlson School to partner with the New Tactics program at Center for Victims of Torture. Our goal was to explore ways that the New Tactics program could become more accessible, and also find ways to support the ongoing development of the program. While it might seem unusual to think of five MBA students working on a project supporting a nonprofit, each of us felt drawn to the program. Many of us had worked abroad prior to returning to graduate school and all of us were impressed with the work New Tactics does training advocates of human rights globally.

On March 24, 2016, I was one of 20 Hubert H. Humphrey Fellows from University of Minnesota Law School and American University Washington College of Law who visited the United Nations headquarters to attend the 60^th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW60).