As a tradition every semester, we welcome the new interns who will be bringing their diverse experience and skills to The International Center. As part of their internship experience, all of them will post blog entries that are related to the department they work at in order to contribute and add value to The International Center’s blog. Let’s introduce the spring 2015 interns!
Rachel O’Heran, International Visitor Leader Program (IVLP) Intern |
| Rachel in Cape Town, South Africa |
Molo! My name is Rachel O’Heran. I am originally from Hillsdale, MI, but consider myself an honorary Hoosier. I am a senior at Butler University, where I am studying International Studies with a concentration in African and European studies and a minor in Political Science. I was fortunate to spend the 2013 fall semester gaining international experience in South Africa while studying multiculturalism and human rights. It was there, that I fell in love with the international community and knew that I wanted to commit my life to serving international individuals.
My passion for learning about other cultures can be reflected in my position at The International Center. I serve as this spring’s International Visitor Leadership Program intern. This internship grants opportunities to work hand in hand with international visitors and native Hoosiers, all while fostering relationships between the two communities. This internship has come at an optimum time as I prepare to graduate in May. Gaining international experience, developing my leadership skills, and learning more about government agencies, are all skills and tools that I aim to implement in my future career.
Upon graduating, I hope to continue my work within the international community. Whether it be in tourism, research, or working with study abroad students. As my list of countries to visit grows, I am excited to see where my future leads me.
Kelli Duncan, Office of Protocol Intern
 |
| Kelli at an organic fruit farm in Hawaii |
Hello! My name is Kelli Duncan and I am the spring 2015 Office of Protocol intern here at The International Center. This means that I work with certified Protocol Officer Peter Kirkwood in educating the greater Indianapolis area about the proper protocol and etiquette of other countries as well as sharing knowledge of American protocol with foreigners who are relocating to work in Indy. This promotes a more efficient and stress-free global working environment. Peter and I also care for and lend out The International Center’s flag collection to events in Central Indiana that promote cultural diversity. I decided to intern here because I wanted to broaden my international horizons. I truly believe that the hands-on, participatory teaching style that I have already experienced here is unmatched by any other internship program.
I’m from Bartlett, Illinois which is a Northwestern suburb of Chicago. I am currently a freshman at Butler University where I am majoring in Journalism and Political Science. In addition to working at The International Center I am a respite care provider for Easter Seals Crossroads. I absolutely love to travel and have (so far) visited England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Mexico. I am looking forward to studying abroad in Costa Rica this summer. I am also involved in the Amnesty International organization on the Butler campus and love playing intermural sports!
Kimberly Collins, Global Competency Training Intern
 |
| Kimberly at the top of La Campana in Chile |
My name is Kimberly Collins, and I am the Global Competency Training Intern here at The International Center. I work with Ansuyah Naiken to research, prepare, and administer cultural competency trainings, which I find thoroughly enjoyable and enlightening. We are also collaborating now to plan the Leadership Across Cultures event at the end of the spring.
After growing up on the north side of Indianapolis, I attended school at Hope College in Michigan. I graduated in May with majors in International Studies and Spanish and minors in Environmental Studies and Community Development.
During my time at Hope, I spent a wild and beautiful summer term (2012) traveling throughout India learning about culture, history, and religion. In the spring of 2013 I spent a semester abroad in Chile, split between the enchanting port city of Valparaíso and the stunning mountains of the Patagonia, studying cultural identity, social justice, and community development. Much of this past summer I was in Palestine/Israel working with peacemaking organizations, which was one of the most eye-opening, terrifying, humbling, and outstanding experiences of my life. Besides granting me an insatiable wanderlust, these international experiences and other domestic involvements have ignited in me a profound desire to continue learning about the world and its people and how best I can live well in my place. In the future I aim to become involved in the intersection between foreign/economic policy-making and international business; eventually, I hope to become a professor.
But for now, I love to spend my days reading, exploring, being active outdoors, making music, learning languages, and enjoying time with friends and family. I look forward to the rest of my time here with The International Center!
Qindan Nie, Development Intern
 |
| Qindan in The Bahamas |
I’m a senior majoring in marketing and Supply Chain Management at Indiana University Bloomington. I’m from China, and came to the U.S four years ago for college. I love reading business books, cooking, traveling, and photography. This spring, I work for The Center as a development intern. My main job is to conduct in-depth research over current and potential donors, and gathering the relevant information to help with grant applications and The Center’s annual fundraising event. I heard about the internship opportunity from the career coach at school. She told me about the great work experience that her friend got at The Center. I decided to intern here since I thought it would be cool to work at a place where you can oversee a variety of international things happening. In addition, The Center provides a valuable internship program that will allow me to learn and practice skills in fundraising and business development, the fields that interest me. A fun fact about me is that every time I travel to a new place, I’ll send 3-7 postcards with travel logs to myself. Now I’ve got a collection of 150!
Kelly Sexton, Relocations Intern
 |
| Kelly and her dad in Barcelona, Spain |
Hello! My name is Kelly Sexton and I am the Relocations Services Intern here at the International Center. I am from Carmel, Indiana, a small town just north of Indianapolis, and I am a junior at Indiana University – Bloomington. I am majoring in International Studies with a concentration in global development and I am minoring in Spanish and Economics. I am very excited to be a part of the team at The International Center and to be able work with people from around the world.
I have always been interested in international relations and traveling. As far as my own international experience, I have been to Japan, England, Spain and a few Caribbean countries. While I was in England and Spain my high school travel soccer played in a European soccer tournament that included 36 different countries. It was an incredible experience as we made it to the championship game, but lost in penalty kicks to a very competitive Spanish team. It was amazing, as well as a learning experience, to see the different styles and strategy of play that other countries implement. I have plans to study abroad this summer in Salamanca, Spain for seven weeks. I can only hope that my international experience and knowledge will prosper with the help of The International Center and my future abroad experiences!
Yin Li, China Project Intern
 |
| Yin at The International Center |
Hello, I am Yin Li. I am a graduate student from China, studying in Indiana University- Purdue University Indianapolis, and my major is Applied Communication. This is my second year in the United States. Everything here is very different than in my hometown, especially the winter. We do not even have the snow in my city.
I really enjoy working at The International Center, because I can share my perspective and knowledge about cultural differences and because of my experience living in a foreign country. In this position, I am able to apply and practice what I have learned from my major, and I am also able to gain the practical experience and skills in the professional environment.
Rémy Braconnot, Marketing and Communications Intern
 |
| Rémy at a café in Amsterdam, Netherlands |
Salut, my name is Rémy and I am from a small village located next to Aix-en-Provence, France. I’m a senior at KEDGE Business School, where I study Business Administration with an emphasis in Marketing. After studying at Butler University during fall semester 2014 as part of a study abroad program, I decided to find an internship in Indianapolis and thus applied to The International Center. So far so good. I am the Marketing and Communications Intern and am in charge of diverse assignments such as managing the blog, writing and updating press releases, reaching out to and gathering the French community of Indianapolis, and other very interesting things. Overall, I try to help The International Center to gain exposure and reach a larger audience. It is indeed a great opportunity for me as I am able to learn and contribute to the organization. It is also very motivating to come in every morning and see that my work actually matters.
As far as my experience abroad goes, I worked in the UK for a year after graduating from high school, not only to improve my English but also to immerse myself in a different culture. I have been traveling in Europe since then to finally cross the Atlantic Ocean and arrive in Indiana in July 2014. Hopefully, my list of visited countries will keep growing as time goes by, but for now I like to call Indianapolis “home”.
Other than that, I also like to read classic literature, watch movies, touch on anything that is related to technology, and food. Boy, do I love food!
Want to know more about our previous interns and their background? Look through those links!
Fall 2014
Summer 2014
Spring 2014
Fall 2013
Summer 2013
Spring 2013
Fall 2012
Summer 2012
No comments:
Post a Comment