Akash Nayak ’27 is one of many undergraduates at the College of William and Mary who name local coffee shops as one of their favorite things about the College. He is one of just four, however, who can say they spent the past summer teaching and researching in Sarajevo, Bosnia with the American-Bosnian Collaboration Project.
Every summer since 1999, the College has selected a cohort of distinguished students to teach English and promote nonviolent communication skills to students in Bosnia. The program connects undergraduate students with graduate students in education at the University of Sarajevo, where they work to co-teach a summer program focusing on peace education for Bosnian children.
“Sometimes, sitting in Williamsburg and thinking about these big questions is really easy,” he said. “To actually go to Bosnia and work with Bosnians on topics related to intercultural competence and bridging divides in society — a project where you’re actually on the ground, talking to people every single day and doing the work — is really amazing.”
Nayak explained that the team consisted of three additional College undergraduates and four graduate students from the University of Sarajevo, connections he now values.
“We spent about three hours teaching the camp itself, and then we’d conduct research through reflection surveys every day that took about an hour,” he said. “In the semester leading up to us going, we also took a preparation class where we learned about Bosnia, about writing lesson plans and teaching.”
Although Nayak is double majoring in international relations and economics, he said that what truly piqued his interest in foreign affairs came long before the classroom.
“I have a very specific memory of seeing Fareed Zakaria’s segment on CNN,” he said, referring to the journalist and political commentator. “My parents have always loved talking international affairs or politics, and so when I came to William and Mary, that background really influenced the questions I found interesting and the classes I was drawn to.”
He explained that the opportunity to work in Bosnia deepened his interest in foreign policy and nurturing cross-cultural connections.
“It just really reinforced my desire to go into public service and to continue work that is internationally focused,” Nayak said. “Bosnia has been through so much as a country, and yes, there’s tensions, and there’s problems that still persist. But people are resilient.”
For Nayak, that resilience also highlighted the importance of on-the-ground work regardless of tangible outcomes.
“In terms of teaching students, sometimes it’s about putting in work now that you won’t always see the outcome of until the future,” he said. “I know firsthand that the first time around, not everything may come through. But that doesn’t mean you’re not learning and growing from an experience, and sometimes things take time.”
Nayak said the lessons of his summer in Bosnia extended far beyond education. He explained that the program furthered his belief in the importance of fostering diverse connections, a value set he feels is heavily representative of the College.
“This opportunity was something that is, to me, distinctly William and Mary,” Nayak said. “Just being able to tell people about our experience and talk about why we do this work is important. Not only for Bosnia, but around the world and even in the United States, bridging differences and having difficult conversations is really powerful.”
That same spirit of bridging differences and fostering connections first drew Nayak to the College.
“I came to William and Mary because I really loved the community here when I visited,” Nayak said. “William and Mary came across my radar, and I saw that there was a huge focus on giving undergrads not only a great education, but also a ton of opportunities to apply that knowledge and ask questions.”
Nayak was born and raised in New Jersey, but his research efforts have taken him all across the globe.
In the summer between his freshman and sophomore years, Nayak received the Critical Language Scholarship, a U.S. Department of State-funded program that sent him to North India to study Hindi. The following summer, he traveled to Hawaii for an internship.
“Getting the opportunity to live somewhere for three months and practice a whole new language and explore the area was really amazing, and I think those kinds of themes are something I’ll definitely take and consider in the future,” he said.
As a participant in the Sharp Journalism Seminar, a program through the Roy R. Charles Center, Nayak also wrote about democratic backsliding in Slovakia and received funding to travel to the region for additional reporting.
On campus, Nayak is involved with DisinfoLab, an undergraduate-led student innovation group connected to the Global Research Institute, and has worked with AidData since the spring of his freshman year.
“In class, especially in IR classes, you hear a lot about how countries build relationships with one another or exert influence, or any of these broad terms,” Nayak said. “I was drawn to AidData because they were looking at the specific instances driving this behavior.”
Nayak said he feels he is learning and developing new skills through his research endeavors, despite how turbulent modern global politics can often be.
“The world is changing dramatically right now,” he said. “I think it’s a really unique time to be looking at all of this information, and that makes it all the more exciting.”
Outside of his research efforts, Nayak also works as a resident assistant in freshman housing and spends time playing intramural sports with his friends.
Nayak also started working for The Monitor, the College’s undergraduate international relations research journal, his freshman year. He has since worked his way up to the editor-in-chief position.
“It’s been another great way to meet more people who are interested in IR and really delve into topics I knew nothing about before,” he said. “There are topics I’d never thought to examine more critically. People are interested in so many things here.”
As Nayak concludes his time at the College, he said he hopes students ask interesting questions and engage in research, always remaining curious and never thinking that there is only one “right” professional path.
“Very broadly, I just want to make the most of my time here,” he said. “Looking back on the past three years, it’s been really amazing. I definitely couldn’t have predicted everything that I ended up doing.”
