What do HNGR Interns Do?

Get Immersed in Local Life

The six-month internship is a season of deeply immersive, experiential learning, that involves the intern in all areas of local life. Students work under the direct supervision of their host organizations and learn to navigate work life with professional colleagues. During their field study, interns may also study a language through any combination of formal in-country language school, in-country university language study, and formal or informal tutoring. 

Live with Local Hosts

Most students also have the opportunity to live with local hosts where they have the chance to engage in everyday household life. A homestay experience is considered one of the core aspects of the internship, and provides students with rich opportunities for learning language and culture. In some locations, it is not practical to have students in homestays; in such cases, interns live in rooming houses or other situations which provide meaningful experiences of intercultural learning. Students are also welcomed into a local church community where they join in bible studies, worship, prayer, and discipleship.  

Conduct Original Research

Finally, each student spends a significant amount of time conducting an original research or creative project within their major in order to complete their Independent Study Project (ISP). Often these projects are of great practical value to the students’ host organizations!  

Connect with HNGR Faculty and Staff

During the course of the six-month internship, HNGR Program staff provides additional supervisory support and are in regular contact with students. In addition, a faculty or staff member of Wheaton College visits the student at the internship site during their internship for mentoring and academic advising.

Life on Internship

The HNGR Program has sent over 850 students to more than 70 countries with 330+ host organizations. HNGR's organizational partners consist primarily of small- and medium-scale organizations founded and managed by local leaders with the support of international and domestic resources. Nearly all of these organizations are faith-based entities guided by diverse Christian traditions and are committed to facilitating holistic, sustainable change in their communities. 

HNGR program staff aim to place interns with community-based initiatives that have grown around a local vision and have indigenous leadership. Ideally, all HNGR interns work, serve, and study under the supervision of local leaders and professionals who have dedicated their lives and professions to seeing God’s kingdom come in their contexts. 

Where Do HNGR Interns Go?

Interns are placed through an intentional, discernment process that seeks to integrate the student’s particular interests and the resources and opportunities provided by host organizations. The placement process begins during the fall semester of the junior year and concludes sometime around mid-late spring semester. Over HNGR's history, the Program has placed interns in the countries listed below. This is a historical list; for security and other reasons, the HNGR Program does not currently send students to all the countries shown.