Two Earlhamites selected for Northern Ireland Leaders Across Borders cohort

Two Earlhamites, Blaise Rzeszut and Aseel Alaeddin, have been selected for this year’s Leaders Across Borders (LAB) cohort. They will travel all expenses paid to Ballycastle, Northern Ireland, for a week of workshops, excursions and learning about peace and conflict resolution.

“Ohio Wesleyan University is once again thrilled to host the Leaders Across Borders workshop this May in Northern Ireland,” says Lisa Ho, associate director of international and off-campus programming at Ohio Wesleyan University (OWU). OWU will facilitate the Northern Ireland trip. 

“We have selected 22 students from across the Great Lakes College Association and the Global Liberal Arts Alliance to participate in a six-month curriculum designed to help students acquire and apply cross-cultural communication skills, utilize intellectual curiosity about other cultures, peoples, and ethnicities and demonstrate peer leadership and conflict mediation skills. The program culminates with an in-person workshop in Northern Ireland where students will learn from peace practitioners and spend a few days with one of the leading organizations promoting global peace and reconciliation, The Corrymeela Community.” 

The Corrymeela Community is Northern Ireland’s oldest peace and reconciliation organization. 

For Rzeszut, the opportunity to travel to Northern Ireland and study conflict resolution is a dream. The world traveler first learned about the Leaders Across Borders program during a study abroad expedition to Japan for Earlham’s Studies in Cross-Cultural Education program. Under the guidance of Taranee Cao, a Japanese language and linguistic instructor at Earlham, Rzeszut submitted an application and was selected. 

“Conflict resolution has become for me a peaceful activity rather than a yelling activity,” said Rzeszut. “It’s helped me in my own life and I think everyone should be able to use these skills if they so wish. I feel like I’m going to be coming in to Leaders Across Borders already knowing a lot but also still having a lot to learn.”

Cao had the following to say about Rzeszut’s qualifications:

“Blaise has consistently distinguished themself as a top-tier student, demonstrating both passion and dedication to their academic pursuits,” she said. “I have personally observed their ability to adapt and thrive in a cultural environment that is markedly different from their home in the United States. Their willingness to embrace challenges, learn from cultural differences and grow as an individual has been inspiring.”

Alaeddin, the second student nominated, is a Palestinian pre-med senior and biology major and hopes to bring the peace and conflict resolution focus of the LAB Northern Ireland trip with her to medical school.

“The initial idea for LAB for me was that there are a lot of applicants to med school,” she said. “Most take the path of shadowing hours or research projects or internships. While that’s also really important, and I’m working on those things as well, I’ve always been interested in social justice. I’m from Palestine, so it’s something I’ve always been passionate about. I think it would be great to meet people from around the world and would help my med school application.”

The December 2025 grad has been a member of the Student Diversity Council (SDC) and the Center for Social Justice (CSJ). She also works in Café 1847 on campus, and like Rzeszut, initially applied, then was nominated for the LAB program.

Past students who participated in the LAB program include sophomore Jimmy Freiberger, who had this to say about the program:

“My experience participating in LAB led me to acknowledge that things like leadership, reconciliation, and community-building do not occur in isolation from the space they take place in. At the Corrymeela Reconciliation Center alongside the gorgeous seaside of Northern Ireland, I was joined by a diverse and wonderful group of folks and learned the essentials of cultivating a space that, through an sincerity and dialogue, can help lead us toward greater peace and justice.”

The Leaders Across Borders program is supported through the Mellon Global Crossroads Initiative via the Great Lakes Colleges Association. 

By Jay Kibble, writer/editor for Earlham College’s Office of Marketing and Communications.

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About Earlham College 

Earlham College and Earlham School of Religion foster a collaborative learning community that inspires and motivates students with transformative opportunities and experiences so they can become catalysts for good in a changing world. Located in Richmond, Indiana, Earlham is one of U.S. News & World Report’s Top 100 national liberal arts colleges and offers one of the top 20 classroom experiences in the nation, according to the Princeton Review.