[mantra-pullquote align=”left|center|right” textalign=”left|center|right” width=”33%”]”Everything was new for me and to learn lab techniques and research methods was a great challenge”[/mantra-pullquote] Sivmey Hok (Cambodia)will travel up the street from the University of Texas campus to intern at the State Capitol in the office of Representative Ryan Guillen. Meshac Gervais (Haiti) will do field work and help manage daily operations for Habitat for Humanity in Evansville, Indiana. And Kar Yan Lai (Malaysia) will assist with social media and web strategies for the Malaysia US Chamber of Commerce in Washington, DC.
UGRADers across the country are busy this spring as interns in a wide range of fields. Check out some of their initial observations below, and share your own experiences in the comments.
Jimmy Alvarado (El Salvador), University of the Incarnate Word, is working behind the scenes on the production team at Univision 41 in San Antonio. His internship will give him first-hand experience in broadcast communications. The station even produced a news story about their interns.
Brigitta Bunford (Serbia, Grand Valley State University)
“Today I went to visit the refugee family that I’m going to tutor this semester… The family is from the Congo and they speak several languages: Swahili, French, and some of the family members are really advanced in English as well. The family unit includes a father, mother, daughter, and son as well as a nephew and an uncle… it was a really amazing experience…
The family is very welcoming and warm-hearted. They got to the United States in October…and are still in the process of integrating into their new community. I love how positive and optimistic they are: all of them are motivated, cheerful, full of life aims…The parents are not so advanced in English; they need a lot of help with language learning, so I will prepare learning materials for them which would help them learn everyday usage of English. It will definitely be beneficial for them since they will be able to interact more with their community and will have more opportunities to find a job… Also, I would like to help the children with learning for school.
The community service I did last semester in the ESL school for refugees, and the course ESL Teaching practicum was good preparation for this internship, as I learned a lot about cross-cultural communication and teaching English in diverse context. I really hope to establish a nice relationship with this family and help them advance their language skills, and therefore enhance their opportunities in their new life in a new country.
Jovan Komluski (Serbia, North Dakota State University)
I had a great experience working in the Weed Resistance Lab at NDSU. It was the first time that I had a chance to work in a lab and I really learned a lot. Everything was new for me and to learn lab techniques and research methods was a great challenge for me…The best side of this internship was that…working in the lab helped me to understand some principles from my classes from a practical aspect which was my main goal when I applied for this scholarship.
Ja Mun Mai (Burma, Maryville College)
With the knowledge that I gained from Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Children, I would like to start a center where children can come after school to improve their social and cognitive skills. Most of the children in my country who can’t afford for tutors rarely do their homework at home because they do not have anybody who can help them when they have some difficulties with their homework. If I start the after school program, it would be a great benefit to Myanmar children as well as my country’s development.