Reflection 2

International Affairs Internship Panel

Smith-Steeb Glass Classroom, 9/9/19 (Professional Development)

This event mainly helped inform and reassure me about potential internship opportunities offered to students. I’ve always intended to pursue an internship, so hearing genuine experiences helped me gauge what I may be getting involved with.

The internships were IA scholar-centric, but additionally they were all either abroad or related to an institution like the State Department. International exposure and interactions are extremely attainable and common for internship opportunities.

Through this event I was able to get some professional perspective on how to approach internships and what types of programs are made available to students. Seeing as it’ll be important for my academic career, I’m looking forward to being able to apply some of this knowledge towards the actual processes.

Professional pursuits aren’t exactly something I’ve been taught about in a classroom setting, but that’s why events like this help make the process less intimidating and manageable.

Most relevant questions were answered, but if I could ask another question I’d ask for some of the panelists to expound on their experience interning for government agencies. It’s such a popular area for people in ‘political’ majors to apply to, but it seems like people come away from it with totally different motivations and I’d be interested to hear more about it.