Student Ambassador / Master of Arts with a Major in Intelligence and Security Studies

Jaiden Mallika Le Pax

• Program: Master of Arts with a Major in Intelligence and Security Studies

• Hometown: New York

• Mentor: Dr. Pam Hayward and Dr. Craig Albert are my undergraduate and graduate advisors. They were both instrumental in helping me choose where I wanted to be and why. The rest is just following passion and creative thinking.

• Why did you choose your degree program? I chose this degree program because it is a subject I always seem to be drawn to throughout my life. My parents worked in intelligence and my previous Air Force career was in intelligence. My long term goal is to make a positive impact, and one of my key interests is in helping to dismantle our human trafficking networks. Experiences as a youth taught me to see the world, and what it’s hiding, differently. This program encourages you to see the world without its filters and trains you to look at its problems directly and unflinchingly.

• What is the greatest lesson you have learned from your professor? One of the things that I have gleaned from all of my professors is the value of our mind. By protecting it with integrity and nurturing it with knowledge and passion, you become your greatest achievement with the capability to live remarkably.

• What have you found most beneficial about your program? My program works hard to stay atop of the news while mixing with engaging, thoughtful discussions and well-rounded resources and materials to make the most out of a student’s curiosity.

• What words of advice do you have for someone considering this program? Come in with an open, curious mind, and you’ll come out a better thinker, collaborator, professional, and leader.

• Have you been involved in any AU organizations? I was a Pamplin Ambassador and that opened the door to so many resources that I didn’t know existed here at AU.

• What have been some of your most rewarding moments while in your program? One of the most rewarding moments was when I had asked Dr. John Heslen for feedback on my over all work at the end of the semester and gave me some of the most helpful and encouraging reviews. He affirmed my potential to complete a PhD. I think critically of myself and the hardest person for me to impress has always been myself. So it meant a lot to me for a respected professor to take the time to appreciate my work and provide encouragement.

• What are your career goals? My short term goes to work in the nonprofit industry to combat human trafficking. My long term goal is to join an agency to do the same thing but with a more active role, as I progress to accumulate more experience.

• What courses stand out as most beneficial and enjoyable? The courses covering various aspects of warfare and the ramifications of those conflicts has helped me understand why the world has the problems that it has. It has ultimately given me a deeper appreciation of our ideals as individuals and as a country standing ground in a time of constant conflict and threats to our freedoms and liberties.

• What AU resources have been most helpful? The Center for Writing Excellence. They helped in me in numerous ways to be a better writer. They helped me finesse the strengths I had in writing, and whittled away the self doubt I had in expressing myself on page.

• What do you do for fun?  Guitar, boxing, reading, writing, drawing, and designing.