The Foreign Service Journal, December 2010

DE C EMB E R 2 0 1 0 / F OR E I GN S E R V I C E J OU R N A L 61 where along the way, things changed. Dan andMuriel Southerlanddidn’t let their son Matt forget about China when they returned fromBeijing and settled into a life in Bethesda, Md. They shuttled him to studywithaChinese-language tutor, and evensent himback toBeijing in1999before his senior year of high school to stay with old family friends. “I found I really loved learningChinese and wanted to keep working at it,” Matt said. So he kept up his language skills at Georgetown,wherehe spent his junior year studying abroad inBeijing and reconnect- ing to the culture he’d been immersed in as a child. Then, upongraduation in2005, Mattmoved toTaiwan,wherehe remained for nearly two years of further study. Itwas inTaipei, wherehe founda com- munity of friends fromall over the world, that Matt started thinking seriously about joining the Foreign Service. He even took the entrance exam there. But conversations with his father may be one of the most important factors in Matt’s decision toenter public service. Dan Southerland, now executive editor of Radio Free Asia, always shared his work with his son—reams of stories related to human rights issues and free speech. He broughtMatt ona trip toVietnamin2005, introducing himto anold friendwho also happened to have been a Viet Cong spy. Andhe always hadplentyof advice tooffer: Take risks while you’re young. There’s more to Asia thanChina. Think in broad terms. Over a recent lunch near Radio Free Asia’s Washington headquarters, Dan couldn’t resist giving his sonmore advice: “Everybody in this town has a degree in international relations,”he said. “Youhave to go beyond that.” Becoming Foreign Service Material Matt is taking his father’s advice. Thoughhe’sonly inthe first yearof hismas- ter’s degree program, he already knows he wants to serve as a political officer in East Asia, from Japan and South Korea to Taiwan. He’s studying a variety of issues from cross-strait relations and rule of law in China, to U.S.-China cooperation on environmental issues and the challenges of interagency cooperation within the U.S. government. Matt had worked on some of these issues over the past three years as a policy research assistant at the RAND Corpora- tion, but he was eager to apply what he’d learned there to academic study at the University of Maryland. So far, Matt is excited about his inter- national securityandeconomicpolicygrad- uate program. His classmates are diverse —an important factor for a kidwhoonce attended an international school and has lived abroad several times since. He’s hop- ing that he’ll someday be able toput all the skills he’s culled throughhis years of study- ing Chinese language and culture, as well as themorepractical skillsof economics and statistics, toward a career in the Foreign Service. In fact, he has already applied for a summer internship, a requirement of his fellowship, with the State Department. “I really appreciate that part of the fel- lowship is doing an internship inanagency in the summer,” he said, adding that the Robertson Foundation helps the fellows through theprocess through its great career center. They alsoprovide a stipend for the internship,which isno small thing forMatt, a first-timehomeownerwhohas beenmar- ried for slightlymore than twoyears to a woman from Taipei. There was no Oprah-patented “Aha!” moment for Matt in decid- ing the Foreign Service was his dream. But, likemost people, itwas the events of his life that led him here. Tiananmen. A diversity of friendships. A father who had covered six Secretaries of State as a journalist. “Living abroad inspired me to pursue a career as a U.S. Foreign Service officer,”Mattwrote last year inhis application for theUniversity ofMarylandgraduateprogram. “As achild, Idevelopedan interest incul- tures different frommy own and a sense of comfort in being overseas. My fatherhas always encouragedme to take risks, travel, learn new lan- guages and interview everyone.” Formore informationabout the fellowshipprogramat theRobertson Foundation forGovernment, please visit www.rffg.org . ❏ A F S A N E W S MatthewSoutherland (second row, second from right) smiles with his kindergarten classmates in Beijing’s Ritan Park. He attended several schools in China, but his favoritewas Beijing International School for its diversity. Upon graduating from Georgetown University in 2004, Matt Southerland competed in the Chinese Bridge international speech contest, performing a musical number in Chinese. He made it to the final round. COURTESY OF MURIEL SOUTHERLAND HANBAN, CHINESE BRIDGE