Christopher Estoch, a University of Central Florida junior majoring in Political Science with an emphasis on International Relations, has been awarded the prestigious Thomas R. Pickering Foreign Affairs Fellowship.

As a fellow, Estoch will pursue a graduate degree in International Relations and serve four-and-a-half years as a Foreign Service officer with the Department of State.

Estoch, of Oldsmar, Fla., would like to become a career diplomat with the Foreign Service. His specific interests lie in strategic weapons, human rights and genocide, and he hopes to pursue these interests in Eastern Europe, Latin America and Africa.

The Pickering Fellowship program, which recruits talented undergraduates with a passion for international relations, is funded by the U.S. Department of State and administered by The Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation.

The fellowship award includes tuition, room, board and mandatory fees for Estoch?s junior and senior years of college and first year of graduate school.

Estoch was picked as one of 40 finalists out of about 1,000 applicants. After completing a written exam and attending an interview session at the Foreign Service Institute in Washington, D.C., he was selected as one of the 20 Pickering Fellows.

"This fellowship means a great deal to me as a first-generation student who does not have the money to go to a prestigious graduate school," Estoch said. "It also allows me to enter a career where I can serve our country and improve our relationship with countries around the world."

Estoch is spending his summer interning at UCF?s Global Perspectives Office. As a Burnett Honors College student, he has also served as a team leader for the freshman symposium and a peer ambassador for summer orientation.

"As accomplished as he is, Chris is also down to earth, a genuine and approachable person who wishes to use his skills to help address the problems of the world," said John C. Bersia, special assistant to the president for Global Perspectives at UCF and a former professor of Estoch?s. "The Pickering Fellowship will help him make his mark."

"I have every expectation that we will be reading about Chris in the news not too many years from now and nodding our heads in approval," added Bersia.

Estoch is one of two undergraduates at Central Florida schools who were selected as Pickering Fellows. Shannon Brown of Rollins College also was chosen.

For more information on the Pickering Fellowship, please visit http://www.woodrow.org/fellowships/foreign_affairs/pickering_undergrad/index.php.