Beyene joined a group of students from the Archdiocese of Washington at the Vatican Embassy, eagerly awaiting the leader of the Catholic Church. Shortly after she arrived, she heard whispers that the pope might be too tired to greet the crowd.

But eventually, as the sun was setting, Francis arrived – not in a popemobile, but . Beyene vividly remembers that he shook the hand of any child he could reach, including Beyene’s. At one point, Francis, who died on April 21, stopped to bless a child in a wheelchair. 

“His prioritization of young people is something you don’t always see,” said Beyene, who spoke at a recent about Francis’ leadership. “Pope Francis made us feel like we are really important and integral to the church.”

Experiencing the pope’s humility firsthand has shaped Beyene’s time at Georgetown, where she is majoring in government with minors in French and religion, ethics and world affairs (REWA). After graduation, Beyene, the only child of immigrants from Ethiopia, hopes to use her education to one day pursue humanitarian work in a French-speaking country in Africa. 

“I want to live my faith out in the world,” Beyene said.

Faith and Knowledge

Beyene is a first-generation college student from a large and close-knit, Ethiopian American Catholic family.

She was born and raised in the suburbs of Maryland and attended Georgetown Visitation, right down the street from Georgetown. Beyene could hear and see the Healy Hall bells from her high school. And even though her cousins attended other colleges in the area, the opportunity to grow in faith and knowledge . 

“I wanted to go to a university that would challenge me both in the classroom but also personally foster the values of caring for our community and world,” Beyene said. “I knew Georgetown would leave me with both of those desires fulfilled.”

During her four years at Georgetown, Beyene has held several roles in . She has been a reader and Eucharistic minister for Masses at Dahlgren Chapel and a co-spiritual chair for with her roommate and best friend, Riley Talbot (C’25), where they have organized spiritual discussion dinners and Bible studies.

Beyene also served for two years as a Catholic retreats leader, guiding a small group through retreats focused on the key places and moments in the life of St. Ignatius of Loyola at the in Bluemont, Virginia. 

Outside of Catholic Ministry, Beyene has found fulfillment co-hosting with Talbot, a radio show on that features songs by female artists and conversations with friends, roommates and professors.

“I have loved building a family-empowerment-centered community through our show,” Beyene said. 

In the summer of 2022, Beyene was one of 21 undergraduate students who embarked led by the Office of Mission and Ministry, where she visited the Sanctuary of Loyola, the birthplace of St. Ignatius, and towns that influenced his life’s purpose and mission, like Montserrat and Manresa. The following spring, Beyene went to Rome as part of and learned about pilgrimage across faiths, with a focus on Rome’s significance for Christians.

“Blain has lived what we hope our students achieve at a Jesuit, liberal arts institution by standing at the intersection of religion and world affairs,” said , an advising dean at the ������̳ of Arts & Sciences. “The combination of her academic studies and extracurricular activities is the living embodiment of what we hope our students pursue in the ������̳ of Arts & Sciences.”

Stretching Her Brain

In Beyene’s application to Georgetown, she wrote that she keeps her Ethiopian immigrant community in mind, and it has continued to guide her college experience.

As a junior, Beyene became a member of the Government Honors cohort, and for her senior thesis, she wrote nearly 100 pages on a paper titled, “A Tale of Two Countries: French and American Approaches to African Immigration.”

Beyene examined how the two countries define citizenship, how those definitions have evolved and how their histories with African populations continue to shape ongoing disparities for African immigrants. 

“Blain has that love of learning and curiosity that every teacher so appreciates,” said , director of the African Studies Program and an associate professor in the Department of Government. “She cares about people and recognizes that all of our community at Georgetown has something to offer her and she has something to share with them.”

Georgetown has helped Beyene grow in ways she didn’t expect. Before coming to college, she had never read the Bible from an academic lens until taking the Divine Revelation course. 

“I just feel like Georgetown keeps stretching my brain in all different ways,” she said.

Even when Beyene is having dinner with friends, their conversations sometimes drift toward the different ways students can practice their faith on campus within the context of helping others. The environment, she said, brings it out of them. 

“One of the greatest gifts of my Georgetown education would be the responsibility to always ensure that my work or research is benefiting my wider community that is not typically represented in higher academic spaces,” Beyene said. “I love that Georgetown emphasizes the values of ‘People for Others’ in the work we do, and I hope to keep that humility in mind in my future career and advanced studies.”

“The Racial Justice Speaker Series represents one part of the necessary work we must do to recognize and then act on the deeply embedded racial inequities in our society,” says Christopher Celenza, dean of Georgetown ������̳. “Our diverse and interdisciplinary speakers will bring different perspectives to this ongoing conversation. I appreciate the work they are doing and am honored that the ������̳ will be hosting this series.”

Research and Racial Justice

These conversations invite faculty from various departments and programs across campus, including the , the , the , and the . 

, vice dean and Idol Family Professor of the ������̳ of Arts and Sciences says that the title of the series draws from Esther 4:14. 

“I understand this passage as a call to action and responsibility for those put in positions of power,” says Colbert. “The series will consider how Georgetown faculty’s research advances racial justice and how racial justice produces certain responsibilities for researchers. We will consider how the pursuit of justice informs the impact of each speaker’s work, understanding that pursuit as a fundamental part of being a faculty member at Georgetown.”

This series is part of the new Racial Justice Initiative which will be formally launched through Georgetown ������̳ next semester. It’s first course, Anti-Black Racism: History and Ideology, Justice and Resistance, will be taught by Colbert and , a professor in the African American Studies department. 

“Racial justice and anti-racist praxis require a mastery of the histories that created, cultivated, and exacerbated racial inequities, and that threaten to make these inequities insurmountable without thoughtful, systematic, and energetic thinking, planning and implementation,” says Patterson. “This course equips students with both the knowledge and skills necessary to think about and enact racial justice, exploring the complexities, complications, and contradictions that emerge when trying to create a beloved community and more perfect union that center Black communities and Black citizens.  

“Situated firmly in the historical and pedagogical mission of Black Studies, this course equips students to address these opportunities,” he concludes.

These conversations have been scheduled from 12:00-1:00 pm EST on Wednesdays throughout the month of October, starting on Wednesday, September 30, 2020, and concluding on Wednesday, October 28, 2020.

To watch the series, please visit our .

When I started as a freshman at Georgetown University, I had no idea what I wanted to do when I “grew up.” However, I knew exactly what I loved – traveling, exploring new cultures, and learning the languages to be able to immerse myself more fully in the experience. Thus, I chose to pursue these passions while at Georgetown.

As a result, my memories of Georgetown are inextricably tied to its language departments. As a French Major with a Certificate in African Studies, I spent most of my days running around the maze that is the ICC, surrounded by people speaking more languages than I could count. The environment spurred me to add Spanish and to study in Paris my junior year where I enjoyed cliché but blissful experiences that included cheese-filled picnics along the Seine and visiting Manet’s Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe during history of art class. As graduation approached, I still had no clue what I wanted to grow up to be, but maintained the seemingly naïve perspective that I should just keep finding ways to do what I loved.

Almost ten years later, I now see the clear lines of a career path stemming from my Georgetown language studies that I could never have predicted at graduation. My knowledge of French has led me all over the world in roles spanning the public, social, and private sectors. Immediately after graduation, I moved to Benin as a Princeton in Africa Fellow to work for one year as the Pipeline & Reports Officer for the UN World Food Programme (WFP). This was followed by additional consultancy roles with WFP and the European Union in Cote d’Ivoire and Mauritania.

After four years in West Africa, I returned to the U.S. to pursue a joint MBA and MA in International Affairs at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and Lauder Institute. French remained a pillar of my experience as I pursued the French “track” within Lauder, interspersing lively debates on the value of French modern art (“but is it really art if it’s just white?”) with courses on financial statement analysis and leading effective teams. Even in the two years post-MBA when I worked in investment banking at Morgan Stanley, my French came in handy more than once in my coverage of the inherently global transportation sector. Today I work on the Ventures team of Pact, a large non-profit based in DC, where the combination of French and Spanish is invaluable in conducting due diligence on potential impact investments and better understanding local market dynamics. My career and my life are both still evolving, but the love and use of multiple languages will always be an integral part of both.