A recent Colorado State University graduate has been named to a select national fellowship program that prepares young professionals for careers in the U.S. Department of State’s Foreign Service.
Justin Frigault, who graduated in December with his bachelor’s degree from the College of Liberal Arts, is one of only 45 students in the country to receive a fellowship from the Charles B. Rangel International Affairs Program.
Named after the former New York congressman who served in the House of Representatives for 40-plus years, the Rangel Program awards up to $42,000 annually for a two-year master’s degree program. As part of this, Frigault also will participate in two internships, one in Congress in Washington, D.C., and another overseas at a U.S. embassy or consulate.
At CSU, Frigault was an English major with a concentration in languages. Before enrolling, he had served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 2015-20, where he worked on security details at U.S. embassies in Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan and South Korea, earning the rank of sergeant.
Frigault explained that his experiences at embassies, especially in post-Soviet countries, catalyzed his desire to pursue a State Department career in the Foreign Service, which brought him to CSU.
“It’s an area that has seen a lot of conflict, and it’s still embedded in it since the collapse of the Soviet Union,” he said. “I think it’s really just an area that needs a lot of attention from the United States.”
Frigault attributed his success to his experiences at CSU, which was made possible due to the GI Bill. He added that it still hasn’t sunk in that he’s a CSU graduate and a recipient of a prestigious fellowship. “I’m still almost in doubt that this is happening,” he said. “I’ve worked so hard to get here.”
A first-generation college graduate from California, Frigault overcame the COVD-19 pandemic as well as challenges resulting from the war in Ukraine to reach this moment.
In 2022, he earned a Critical Language Scholarship, a State Department program that offers opportunities for American college and university students to learn languages abroad. He had hoped to study Russian in Ukraine.
“I was supposed to study in Kyiv for a full year,” he said. “But the war broke out just a few months before I was to go. Everything I worked for and achieved just suddenly fell apart.”
As such, Frigault said he worked with CSU and the State Department to find an opportunity in Georgia. Afterward, he returned to CSU for a semester and then headed back to Georgia from January 2023 to July 2023 as a Boren Scholar and a Gilman Scholar.
As graduation neared, Frigault said he was worried that he might not get selected for one of the highly competitive State Department programs. However, after patiently waiting, he received the news he hoped for.
Frigault currently is awaiting word on which international relations graduate program he will attend this fall. He is planning to study something in international relations, public policy or international security, while also sharpening his Russian language skills.
In the end, Frigault said that he’s grateful for the support he received from his family and friends, as well as the CSU community.
“It’s overwhelming,” he said. “I’m moving forward on my career path, and I’m excited.”
