A world of good
With a passion for public service and international affairs, Natalie Beckford ’24 is the college’s first Payne Fellow.
Beckford, a Pepper Prize finalist and Posse Scholar, received Lafayette’s 1974 Award in May.
PhotoGRAPHS by ADAM ATKINSON
Born in Washington, D.C., Natalie Beckford was exposed to world travel from an early age. Among her experiences, she journeyed to her father’s native Jamaica as a child, to China with her aunt as a middle schooler, and to Morocco and France in study abroad programs as a student at School Without Walls High School. At Lafayette, she pursued a double major in international affairs as well as religion and politics, and a minor in French. Her academic achievements and service to the community were widely recognized on College Hill. In the spring, she was awarded the Lyman Coleman Prize, presented annually to the senior who has demonstrated broad interest and superior performance in religious studies; she received the James Alexander Petrie Prize in French; and Beckford was inducted into national honor societies for international affairs, political science, and French, respectively. Now that she’s graduated, she’s ready for wherever the world takes her next.
Tell us about your background.
My family is rather diverse. My father is a Jamaican immigrant, and my mother is African American. I have family from Guyana. So, it’s an amalgamation of different cultures. On my father’s side, I’m a first-generation college student; on my mother’s side, I’m a fourth-generation college student. So, when it comes to education, there’s an emphasis for both sides, but they have very different and deeper meanings. For my mother’s side, it’s fulfilling a legacy of having Black American students go to college, since there was a point in history when Black people weren’t able to do that. And for my father, it’s very much pursuing an education that he didn’t have the opportunity to have in Jamaica.
When did you get interested in foreign service?
During my freshman year of high school, my neighbors, Bob and Denise, rode my bus route in Washington, D.C. I would see them every morning on my way to school, and we started talking. They were very interested in my studies, and over time I found out they were both foreign service officers for the State Department—which was the last stop on the bus route. They told me stories about their time in places like Russia, Latvia, and Poland, and I knew right then I wanted to pursue international affairs.
You started ballet at age 5 and went on to perform on Broadway, at John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and at distinguished events for people like Michelle Obama. How did that experience shape you?
I’m a classically trained professional ballerina, but retired during my sophomore year of high school. So, going into Lafayette, I had a foundation of grit and determination. Dance made me appreciate culture, while academia made me appreciate history. In high school, we had to take AP world history for two years, and after dedicating that much time to learning about the world around me, I wanted to learn so much more. I was able to identify how these things, dance and global education, work together. Both allowed me to learn about the world around me.
“I want to bring the human aspect back into international affairs,” Beckford says.
The USAID Donald M. Payne International Development Fellowship is awarded to only 30 graduating college seniors nationwide who are interested in pursuing careers in the Foreign Service—and you are one of them.
This Payne Fellowship definitely means a lot to me. I am very blessed to be funded to immediately start my chosen career. I’ll be pursuing a master’s degree in international relations at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. Then, after my five years of working for USAID as a humanitarian assistance foreign service officer, I will continue to work in international affairs. I’m so excited to be able to pursue something that I have been wanting since I was 15 years old.
What are some of your highlights from College Hill?
I definitely wanted to leave Lafayette knowing that I helped improve it in some way. As the former president and senior adviser of the Association of Black Collegians, I helped rebuild ABC after the pandemic and I rewrote its constitution. Also, through Lafayette Mutual Aid, we were able to fundraise and redistribute the money back to BIPOC students to help with everyday expenses like gas and groceries. And, by tutoring students in Madagascar through Lafayette Initiative for Malagasy Education, I saw how I could help my global community.
What aspect of international affairs are you most passionate about?
I definitely want to bring the human aspect back into international affairs. That’s something that was emphasized in most of my classes—tweaking your perspective in order to be a more empathetic and understanding person. Setting aside your own biases and welcoming new experiences, lessons, and perspectives are critical to how you interact with the world. I’ve been able to do that at the College, and all of these experiences have helped me become who I am: Natalie.
