Internship Reflections

Find out what our students and recent graduates gleaned from their internship experiences.

What I Gained - Julia Wittrock '15

MBA candidate at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan | Interned at a high-end bicycle manufacturer in Vietnam

“My internship helped me develop stronger cross-cultural skills and gave me the opportunity to witness the power of business to allow people to earn a living wage in developing country.

“My office was located in an industrial park in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Though I could communicate in Mandarin with some of my co-workers, I picked up some language skills and practiced a good amount of dramatic hand gesturing to compensate for the language barriers with others.

“The firm itself was a Taiwanese firm that built facilities throughout Southeast Asia. The internship allowed me to see for myself how international businesses could be used as a tool for strengthening local economies by providing steady employment for those who might otherwise have none.”

First Choice Applicant - Tyler Garret '16

Executive Vice President for Global Engagement, Wheaton College Student Government | Interned with the U.S. Embassy in Mozambique

“I was the U.S. Embassy in Mozambique's first-choice applicant for their internship position because of my familiarity with the political, economic, and cultural conditions of Sub-Saharan Africa after traveling and studying there for a month the previous summer with Wheaton’s ISI program.

“I split my time with the State Department in Mozambique between the political/economic offices of the Embassy and the communications office of the CDC (Center for Disease Control). The highlights of my work experience were drafting five diplomatic cables reporting back to State Department in DC and drafting two speeches, which the CDC Mozambique Director gave at the CDC's opening of a new gender-based violence center in rural Mozambique (with the First Lady of Mozambique and other government officials in attendance for one of them)."