Hannah Foster

My internship is at the U.S branch of the Carbon Disclosure Project, or the CDP. I am passionate about the CDP because as a moderator working on behalf of institutional shareholders, it elicits responsiveness from major corporations regarding their carbon emissions in a way that an environmental non-profit that was purely activist in its nature simply could not. The Carbon Disclosure Project’s practicality and operational tangibility are refreshing to me as an overwhelmed environmentalist who does not know where to start in a world where dialogue with the Earth’s worst polluters sometimes seems unreachable.

Through my internship with the CDP, I am gaining insight into the complicated risks and opportunities presented to large corporations in the context of climate change, the methods by which one measures and reduces carbon emissions, and the pragmatic power of investors to influence corporations’ environmental behavior for the better. I am learning how to reach out to the public-sector by strategically making contact with Congress and fellow non-profits. I have written educational literature targeted towards other college students, and am researching current climate change initiatives in the financial sector.

 Idil Ibrahim

My internship with Pivot Pictures is a stimulating, rewarding experience that has already greatly influenced my personal and professional development. Pivot Pictures is a media production company and subsidiary of the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ), a human rights non-governmental organization, and uses film to address the stories of a world in transition, and of people struggling to overcome historical human rights abuse and crimes against humanity, by inspiring and informing the public.

As a Master's candidate at the Gallatin School of Individualized Study, my concentration is documentary film for human rights advocacy work. The NYU Wasserman Center for Career Development Funded Internship Award allows me to continue to intern at Pivot while I develop my thesis film project, profiling the Somali refugee community in Minneapolis.

At Pivot I have been able to hone my skills in film production and development. With many international film projects at different stages in development, I have had the opportunity and the privilege of working with seasoned filmmakers and human rights advocates and professionals to discover and learn new ways to inform, educate and spark change using the powerful medium of film.

 Jonathan Kanitra

I am currently a college intern at the Kings County (Brooklyn) District Attorney’s Office. The office is responsible for prosecuting all state crimes occurring in Brooklyn. My supervisors are several Assistant District Attorneys (ADAs), and my primary responsibilities include preparing discovery, filing motions and documents with Legal Aid and the Criminal Court, and contacting complainants, witnesses, and police officers by phone and mail to obtain information about cases. Sometimes I do more unique things as well, including watching security tapes, assisting in writing motions and analyzing phone records.
This is my second consecutive semester at the office; I returned because I enjoyed the work and my help was needed and greatly appreciated. In particular, my supervisors have been preparing some of their major cases for trial, and I’m eager to see some of the cases I worked on go to trial. And since I’m a returning intern, I’ve assisted new interns and even new ADAs when they need help.

 Matthew Kiang

After spending two summers volunteering at several orphanages in Uganda and seeing the ravages of AIDS on families in some of the poorest villages in the world, I moved to New York. Here, in the nation's most expensive city, I learned that over 100,000 people are infected with HIV. It is this aspect of HIV/AIDS--its ability to cross all financial, geographical, and cultural boundaries--that brought me to the Center for Health, Identity, Behavior, and Prevention Studies (CHIBPS) at NYU. As an intern at CHIBPS, I have the unique opportunity to work with some of the city's leading HIV researchers, strengthening my abilities and furthering my academic pursuits as a health investigator, while also being active in a cause I am passionate about.

The Funded Internship Award has allowed me to take my passion and academic curiosity even further by providing the opportunity to divert my own savings towards a trip to South Africa this summer. There, I will be interning at a nonprofit in Cape Town and viewing yet another aspect of HIV/AIDS by investigating the spread of the disease through the prison system. I am incredibly grateful to have been the recipient of this award. It will allow me to further my academic development while viewing yet another aspect of this devastating disease. This unique experience simply would not have been possible without it.

 SunJeong Lee

The Funded Internship Award fills the gap between the enthusiasm I have in furthering my learning experience in the real world and my financial need. As an international student, opportunities for scholarships come rarely— thus this support has directly aided my internship experience at the Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict.

The focus of the work at the Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict aligns with my interest in studying the global war-affected population. I am currently assisting research for the upcoming Afghanistan country report. The research aspect of the work is an exciting process, as interviews with country specialists from many organizations are conducted to gather field information on top of data collection. The organization’s strong partnerships with the UN agencies and other not-for-profits have also led me to learn the skills required for advocacy.

 Rachael Rho

The NYU Wasserman Center for Career Development Funded Internship Award is instrumental in my pursuit of personal and professional growth. The stipend has enabled me to intern at the Business Council for Peace (BPeace), a non-profit organization that fosters entrepreneurship in Afghanistan and Rwanda through its extensive volunteer network of business professionals. I am able to use this funding for living expenses during the semester instead of taking on another part-time job to supplement my unpaid internship. The funding allows me to focus more on my experience at BPeace and even further, enable me to further explore my intended career path in social enterprise in emerging markets.

Interning at BPeace is a new experience every day. Since all the sponsored entrepreneurs work in a range of sectors and industries, I have become exposed to a variety of business models, issues and strategies to promote these amazing business people. My time at BPeace has also given me the privilege of developing program agendas, grant writing and organizing a fundraiser that raised $25,000 for a vocational beauty school in Rwanda. I will actually continue to intern for BPeace this summer, developing the Race to Innovation competition for starting entrepreneurs and heading the outreach of existing social enterprises around the world.

I am so grateful to have and continue such an awesome internship opportunity through the Funded Internship Award.