After representing more than 230,000 of her peers as UC Student Association president, Celene Aridin is ready to take her advocacy to the global stage. The 2024 UC Davis graduate joins an elite cadre of 150 scholars from around the world who will study China’s emerging role in global affairs at Tsinghua University in Beijing as a 2025 Schwarzman Scholar.

Aridin, who majored in international relations with a minor in Arabic, is the second UC Davis scholar accepted to the fully funded master’s program since its inception in 2016. Aridin travels to Beijing in August to participate in the immersive academic program designed to build a global community of future world leaders.

“The Schwarzman Scholarship will provide me a unique opportunity to develop a skill set related to international diplomacy that will help me in future professional settings,” Aridin said. “It also will give me a chance to have a deeper appreciation and understanding of other cultures.”

Students shape the future of global affairs 

The Schwarzman Scholars program, modeled after the Rhodes Scholarship, prepares future global leaders to address the challenges of the 21st century. The highly selective graduate program combines academics, leadership development and cultural immersion activities to prepare scholars to tackle the world’s most pressing issues. Scholars are chosen for their demonstrated and immense leadership capacity. 

Passion for international relations and China 

Aridin said her multicultural upbringing shaped her global perspective. She often traveled to the Middle East and North Africa to visit her parents’ home countries of Jordan and Algeria. Her interest in international relations was further piqued by a missed opportunity in her world history class at Bella Vista High School in her hometown of Fair Oaks, California. 

“We spent one day on the history of the East and Middle East. It was a world history class, but we quickly moved on to learn about U.S. history,” Aridin said. “So, I began my own research into these regions and began to watch documentaries on China.”

At the same time, Aridin learned about a cultural language exchange program to China. She applied, was accepted and traveled to Shanghai, which further shaped her fascination with China and its politics. 

“This opportunity opened my eyes to China’s cultural and technological advancements,” Aridin said. “It also showed me how intertwined its global history is to the Middle East and North Africa’s futures.”

Politics means put people first 

Aridin first heard about the Schwarzman Scholars program during her third year at UC Davis. The focus on international relations intrigued her but she worried she lacked the experience needed to apply.

As conflict broke out in the Middle East in October 2023, Aridin shifted her focus away from the Schwarzman Scholars to advocating on behalf of her peers in the UC system. After she graduated in the spring of 2024, Aridin decided to give the Schwarzman application another try. 

“The application questions felt like a testament to what I worked on over the last 10 months. I thought to myself and realized that this work was international relations and international politics experience,” Aridin said. “It’s about bringing different people together. This is what the Schwarzman Scholarship Committee looks for in global leaders, someone who is committed to learn about their peers and community, which is something I gained during my time at UC Davis.”