This edition of From Our Eyes highlights Jaden Steinbock (’26 Peace and Justice Studies, Integrated Education Studies). Steinbock shares her summer study abroad experience in Northern Ireland and how the journey redefined her future in education.

(Pictured in header: Jaden Steinbock (’26 Peace and Justice Studies, Integrated Education Studies) with a group of students in Northern Ireland studying abroad. Photo courtesy of Steibock.)

In June of 2025, I was privileged to join a summer travel course to Northern Ireland with Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, in partnership with the Center for International Experiential Learning (CIEL). Led by Dr. Lisa Leitz (Peace and Justice Studies) and Dr. Sara LaBelle (Communication Studies), the course examined the Troubles and the continuing peacebuilding process to understand the conflict and those most affected by it. Through site visits and conversations with community leaders in Belfast, Derry/Londonderry, and surrounding communities, the course taught me about the role of education in peacebuilding and how education can be connected to conflict. Each student was assigned a day of the trip to post on the class blog, and all students wrote a reflection blog post after the course.

As an Integrated Educational Studies major, I did not anticipate seeing a connection to my future career while studying the conflict, but I was proven wrong day after day. During the trip, I specifically focused on exploring how schools, community centers, and restorative justice sites can serve as spaces for conversation, healing, and transformation. When visiting these places and conversing with their leaders, I realized that integrated education, education that included students from both sides of the divide,  is more than bringing different groups together, a belief I held before the course; integrated schools create spaces for young people to unlearn their personal biases, reconcile their family’s past, and develop empathy and understanding for others.

The most pivotal academic highlight of this trip was visiting Lagan College, the first integrated school in Northern Ireland. This visit opened my eyes to the needs of young people in areas impacted by crises. Lagan does incredible work bridging gaps in the community and providing a space where youth feel comfortable expressing themselves and exploring or questioning what they have been taught socially. Nearly every day after our visit to Lagan, our speakers discussed education and the challenges facing youth today.

This highlight was both academic and personal for me, as my connection to education extends beyond my chosen major. As a graduating senior, my future career is constantly on my mind. After experiencing this travel course, I am eager to work internationally, at a school or site similar to those I visited in Northern Ireland. Before this experience, I was not sure I would have ventured beyond the United States, but I am now extremely excited about the prospect of working internationally for a period of time after graduating. I see myself exploring the links between education and the ongoing creation of peace in areas of former (but really ongoing) crises. I believe the most illuminating thing I learned over the course of the trip, as most of our speakers shared, is that peace is not a state but a constant process.

My understanding of what education means grew significantly during my time in Northern Ireland, and this experience changed my perspective on myself, my future career, and my place in the field of education. I am extremely grateful for this opportunity, which has truly changed my outlook and widened my perspective on my future and the future of the complicated world we live in.

(Pictured in header: Jaden Steinbock (’26 Peace and Justice Studies, Integrated Education Studies) with a group of students in Northern Ireland studying abroad. Photo courtesy of Steibock.)