This summer, I had the opportunity to intern for the United Nations Refugee Agency Representation in the Republic of Korea. The United Nations Refugee Agency, or UNHCR, is an official UN mandated organization to assist refugees, asylum seekers and all other persons of concern around the world. Its representation in Republic of Korea serves to help with capacity building for refugee protection in Korea and is in close partnership with the government and the civil society. Another big role that the representation in Korea does is to raise awareness on the refugee issue and to bring in donations.

I was the Communications intern to the Private Sector Partnership team, which means that I assisted with producing materials for existing and potential donors as well as the general public. These materials include blog posts, reports on UNHCR activities and/or refugee situations, newsletters, etc. In addition to creating contents for UNHCR Korea’s various channels, I also took on some administrative tasks such as keeping track of the Communications unit’s inventory and ordering various promotional items for donors and partners.

This summer, I learned that I was right about pursuing my interest of working for the refugee issue. It felt right that I continue working in this sector, especially in my homeland, Korea. I also felt that, now that I have tried working with a bigger company, I would like to try working with a smaller organization in the civil society, in a field other than fundraising.

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This summer, I worked for a non-profit organization in Karatu, Tanzania called FAME (Foundation for African Medicine and Education). Their mission is to improve the quality and accessibility of medical care in rural Tanzania and they provide patient-centered, rather than profit-oriented care to all, even those who cannot afford it. I was given the opportunity to shadow doctors in the hospital’s inpatient, outpatient, and maternity wards. Often, I was able to assist the medical team in minor procedures and surgeries as they were more than willing to teach me and I was eager to learn from them. Aside from working in the hospital, I created an oral hygiene program for primary students and presented the program at many schools in the region. It involved teaching children how to maintain proper oral hygiene and I provided students with toothbrushes I made from a local “toothbrush tree” and taught them how to make one themselves so they had a sustainable way to practice these techniques.

This experience has been eye-opening. I worked with Tanzanian and Maasai patients every day and through this work I was able to develop a greater sense of humanity and empathy for others. I found through my time here that my purpose in life is to serve the poorest of the poor throughout the world, because no one deserves to be deprived of basic human needs such as quality health care simply because they cannot afford it or if it is unavailable. I will return to Colgate with an enhanced worldview.

In general, I believe it is incredibly important and valuable to venture out into the world and experience foreign cultures. By immersing myself within Tanzanian culture and learning Swahili, my experience working at the hospital was greatly enhanced. Apart from the cultural benefits of working at FAME, I was able to witness and assist with many things in the hospital that would not be possible for undergraduates in a pre-med internship in the U.S.

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This summer I had the privilege of studying the Italian language and learning archaeological fieldwork techniques by participating in an Italian excavation. The overall experience in itself was two-pronged. First I spent time working with the Leno Project through the University of Verona on an archaeology site in a small town outside of Brescia, Italy. Each day we would wake a little after sunrise and excavate until early evening. Working with other university students, primarily from surrounding Italian cities, and professors, we slowly exposed and analyzed different layers of soil within a medieval home. We also spent time cleaning and cataloguing finds from our excavations including things like shards of pottery, animal bones, and mosaic pieces. The most interesting part of this experience was the fact that I was both the only American on site and the only native English speaker. Therefore I quickly had to learn how to rely on observation, tone, and gestures. Through the patience and kindness of my peers, I even picked up some Italian archaeology vocabulary.

Next, I spent a month in Venice completing an intensive Italian language and immersion program through the Istituto Venezia. Through this program, I was placed in a homestay and attended daily classes. These classes had an emphasis on complete immersion as other languages were not allowed to be spoken during the lessons. In fact, speaking English, even when I wanted to, sometimes proved difficult because each student had a different native tongue. Overall, the program helped me build confidence in speaking the language through the importance placed on conversational skills and basic dialogue. Although we did have daily grammar lessons, the teachers encouraged an active classroom environment in which we were constantly talking rather than being lectured at. This then enabled me to have productive conversations with my host family entirely in Italian. Sometimes I would even go an entire day without speaking any English whatsoever.

As a classical studies major, the excavation allowed me to gain a deeper appreciation of my field by understanding the lengths to which archaeologists must take in order to create an understanding of history. Such slow, and sometimes painstaking work, showed me how even meticulous study of the different layers of soil could paint a picture of events that had transpired within the space. It was a truly unique experience to be able to study culture at a base level and use analytical skills to put “finds” into a historical context. This environment certainly put me to the test as I found myself struggling to maintain a positive attitude as I grappled with the language barrier with my supervisors; however, I learned more creative ways to express myself with my peers. I ultimately learned what a blessing it is to be able to communicate with a group of people efficiently and that a simple smile can end up speaking volumes. I learned that attitude and perseverance through times of frustration are everything. I also learned how to be self-reliant as I traveled alone and built up my own confidence.

My summer had its own set of emotional highs and lows as I struggled to effectively communicate with others and spent time alone in a foreign country; but I wouldn’t trade the experience for the world. Thank you Colgate for allowing me to pursue this lifelong dream of mine.

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This summer, I worked for the investment banking division of Deloitte: Deloitte Corporate Finance. DCF is a sell side firm that facilitates the sale of middle market companies (usually with revenues between $50-$500 Million). At the firm, my roles revolved around preparing materials for the client. I wrote multiple Confidential Investment Memorandums (documents that outline the investment merits of purchasing the company in question), prepared various pitches for the client, and utilized financial modeling skills to help value the company.

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My summer experience was a continuation of the work I have been doing for about a year now in trying to launch a clothing line with my business partner, Daniel Neeson. This summer largely revolved around our hope to successfully launch our first line of clothing which we did so at our 6 dat New York Popup retail shop. In preparing for our popup, we executed a marketing strategy that caught the attention of some of the world’s most prominent publications such as: People Magazine, GQ, Access Hollywood, and Page Six amongst many others. As for the Popup itself, we spent about 3 days straight turning an empty storefront in Soho into a fully operational retail store that attracted thousands of customers and sales. After the culmination of our shop, our most recent efforts have been to design and produce our Fall line of clothes that will be available at our online store this fall. Pine Outfitters is not only focused on providing unique, stylish and durable clothing, but also is passionate about the environment and doing its part to contribute to its sustainability. While this summer was a great success for the business, we are proud of our partnership with the National Forest Foundation that allowed us to donate over 1000 trees.

This summer was unlike my previous internship experiences. My venture this summer required me to truly take responsibility for myself as the face of a company. For the first time, I was not looked at as a student, or a young person, but as a legitimate businessman. Of course, this was quite the adjustment, but my difficult, yet rewarding experience this summer has taught me a great deal about life after college.  

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My summer experience was nothing short of exceptional. For the past six weeks, I was able to dive into the field of nephrology with some of the most renowned research physicians in their field.

During my time in the research labs, I was able to take some of my seemingly basic chemistry and biology knowledge and apply it to a research project that was investigating where a specific protein, APOL1, is located within cells. This protein is associated with renal failure in African Americans. The APOL1 protein is a by-product of their body’s evolutionary defense against Trypanosoma brucei, which is commonly called African Sleeping Sickness. The importance of identifying where this protein resides within specific cells could help to better shed light on how it influences cells individually.

I helped to experimentally construct the DNA to be put into a cell so that way it would produce a marker that would bind to the protein, APOL1, and indicate its location when examined under a microscope.

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I worked for the Home Base Program which is through Massachusetts General Hospital and the Red Sox Foundation. Home Base provides clinical care and support services such as resiliency education to veterans of post-9/11 conflicts. In addition, Home Base conducts research centered on identifying and implementing new treatments for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), traumatic brain injury (TBI) and other invisible wounds of war.

In my role as a research intern this summer I did all of the following:

• Aided in tailoring the “Resilient Family” stress management course to specifically cater to the needs of veteran caregivers
• Transcribed focus groups
• Entered intensive care program (ICP) patient data and other Home Base patient data
• Attended research meetings and treatment rounds
• Conducted literature reviews to aid in the writing of several studies.

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As the social media intern at Revolve Impact I was in charge of the Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook accounts. I controlled what posts went out, what they said and how they looked. I would spend my days researching statistics, pulling graphics, and creating GIFs.

Every day was a new topic to research ranging from mass incarceration, effects of bullying, LGBTQ issues, police officers in school, success of after-school programs and so much more. I also had to stay up to date with the current news regarding the issues that the company was trying to combat so I could ensure all our platforms were updated with the most relevant information. It was a lot of pressure to maintain all of the social media platforms, but I now have such a deep understanding of not only the information I learned, but also the best ways in which to convey it to the public.

In addition to my role at Revolve Impact, I worked at Mayola Charles Shining Path Montessori School as a teacher’s assistant. I played with the children and helped them with basic reading, writing, and math skills.

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For my summer internship, I worked for the Irish International Immigrant Center, which provides free legal, education, and counseling services to immigrants, both Irish and non-Irish.

I worked primarily in the Education Services department, however I also spent at least one day a week in Guest Services, which allowed me to interact with every client that came through our doors, connecting them with the right resources. This also allowed me to interact with and learn more about most other departments in the organization.

For Education Services, I prepared class files and folders for our summer conversation classes and then again for the fall, cross-checking students on the online roster and our paper files, as well as making sure students were aware when their classes started. A large part of my role was also co-teaching several classes, including a six-week ESL class focused on art and history in Boston, a six-week conversation class focused on practicing basic conversation skills, and a ten-week citizenship class.

For the Art and History ESOL class, every Wednesday we would take a field trip into the city to see what we had discussed on Monday, and I led several different portions of the field trips.

For the citizenship class, I made class-specific Taboo games to review important figures, dates, and events in American history, and also planned a field trip around historic Boston, which helped to make more concrete some of the material covered in class. This manifested itself particularly well when we ended our field trip at the Old State House where, the students learned, the Declaration of Independence was first read to Bostonians.

The biggest thing I learned about myself is that I enjoy teaching ESL classes and that it might be something I wish to pursue after graduation, either as a career, or as a volunteer opportunity. I also learned to be more confident with my Spanish. I interacted with many clients who did not speak English and with whom I had to clearly express certain pieces of information.

Finally, I learned that it is ok (and even a good sign) to ask for more responsibility.

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This summer, I had the opportunity to intern in the Department of Cancer Biology at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. My mentor, Professor Luca Busino, focuses on studying the process of protein degradation in blood cancers. The protein degradation pathway is known to be altered in this particular type of cancer. The ultimate goal of the laboratory is to identify potential drug targets in this pathway in order to slow down or cause the death of tumor cells. I specifically worked on determining that a protein involved in inflammation can be degraded by a specific member of the degradation pathway. This relationship could help explain the role of inflammation in the development of cancer. More importantly, it represents a potential anti-cancer target that could eventually be used to develop treatments.

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