Class of 2020 First-Year Fellow: Will Barth '20

Will Barth comes from Ridgefield, Connecticut and graduated from Ridgefield High School in 2016 with high honors and as an AP Scholar with Distinction. In high school, Will was captain of the debate team, which he led to first place at state finals in 2016, as well as senior patrol leader and Eagle Scout in his local Boy Scout troop. He was also on the mock trial team, in orchestra and jazz band, and co-founder of the Robin Hood charity club.

At Dartmouth, Will plans to major in Government or History. He is on the mock trial team and volunteers with the DREAM mentorship program.

As a First-Year Fellow, Will interned at Voice of America (VOA) under the mentorship of John Lippman ’71. While at Voice of America, Will worked in the Programming Directorate Office which is comprised of a team of managers who oversee the programming and personnel in all language services at VOA. He completed a variety of tasks during his fellowship such as compiling a report on VOA’s humanitarian coverage to prepare the Programming Director for an interview with an academic researcher, and a multi-week study on how major language services at VOA used the TV packages produced by VOA’s central newsroom.

Additionally, Will volunteered his time outside of the Programming Directorate Office, when he was available. “Using my Spanish fluency, I assisted the Latin America Division with its weekly TecChat live stream, which focuses on interviewing Latin American entrepreneurs in the tech sector and is increasingly popular among Spanish-speaking youth. I also regularly volunteered with the Media Lab, where I learned to edit news briefs to be shared internally with VOA’s language services. My work there led to me assisting with a variety of other video-related projects, including a promo for the Urdu service and a short film depicting an ISIS attack with watercolor paintings.”

After he graduates in 2020, Will is interested in a career in international relations, law, or finance.