In Fall 2023, CC alum Julieta Lechini ’22 begins her master’s degree studies with the 4CITIES program in Europe. The program is a course in Urban Studies with an acceptance rate of less than 3.5-percent. It touts the line: “4 Cities, 2 Years, 1 Master Degree.” Lechini was awarded the Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Scholarship to fund her studies for two years in Brussels and Vienna and two other locations for her to choose after finding an internship opportunity. The 4CITIES program states that the aim of the master’s degree is to “engage with the cities as an evolving narrative, more dialogic than linear, and students learn to see ‘The City’ as manifold and emergent, to hear it, to participate in it, and to understand it, all while experimenting with their role in shaping it.” It is a prestigious, integrated, international study program, jointly delivered by a consortium of higher education institutions.
Lechini, an Anthropology major and Political Science major at CC, credits her time at the college, and the opportunities enabled by the Block Plan, with leading her towards 4CITIES. “In many aspects, my thesis was critical. While I was an Anthropology student, I started working on my thesis on housing accessibility for Cuban migrants in Montevideo, Uruguay. Later on, I had an internship with the Quad [Innovation Partnership] and we worked on researching how to improve education in Colorado Springs,” she says. “Both of these experiences, together with my time at the Collaborative for Community Engagement as a student director and Bonner Fellow, prepared me to do community-based research from different angles and on different topics of urbanism such as housing, transportation, and migration.”
Now living in Spain, Lechini has been working as a tutor for International Baccalaureate students with English as a second language and teaching Spanish and English classes. She’s also continuing work on anthropological and sociological investigations which she hopes to publish soon. She understands that it was some well-needed time off after graduation that prepared her to be successful in this next academic endeavor. “I was quite hesitant on taking a gap-year before getting into further education. Now, that I am about to finish my gap year and heading to my master’s program, I could not be happier with the decision I made,” she says. “During this year, I was able to distance enough to realize what made me happy about research and where do I want to continue my professional career.”
“Be brave, take time off, enjoy, distance yourself a bit to see things from another perspective, start projects that you had pending, learn new skills, travel, and you will see how eye-opening it can be for a future career.”
Julietta Lechini ’22
Lechini has just started the 4CITIES program, but she is already excited about where this course will lead. “As of now, I am very eager to continue studying into a doctorate, but first of all, I want to have my internship experience in urban consultancy!”
Although she’s fairly new to the CC alumni community, Lechini already has some great advice for her fellow alumni. “Since my life as alumni is not quite long, I can only advise to those other recent graduates or students about to graduate, that life is quite confusing after graduation. I had multiple phone calls with friends from CC confused on what career path to take, or the limited options as a non-US citizen. Nevertheless, now I believe that confidence, patience, and love and support from those near you take you a long way. Be brave, take time off, enjoy, distance yourself a bit to see things from another perspective, start projects that you had pending, learn new skills, travel, and you will see how eye-opening it can be for a future career.”
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