{"id":2239,"date":"2014-06-11T10:54:43","date_gmt":"2014-06-11T14:54:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/now.etown.edu\/?p=2239"},"modified":"2014-06-26T15:15:33","modified_gmt":"2014-06-26T19:15:33","slug":"ngo-scholarship-immerses-interns-in-overseas-learning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/2014\/06\/11\/ngo-scholarship-immerses-interns-in-overseas-learning\/","title":{"rendered":"NGO Scholarship Immerses Interns in Overseas Learning"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"yunus<\/a>When Stephen Brill \u201915 was notified of his $10,000 NGO scholarship, he was in the process of querying family members and military friends about how to raise money so he could take advantage of an internship with the Yunus Centre<\/a> in Dhaka, Bangladesh.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I found out that I had been awarded the scholarship it was as if a tremendous weight had been lifted off of my shoulders,\u201d said Brill, who served with the U.S. Marines in Afghanistan and Kyrgyzstan from 2007 to 2011 before coming to Elizabethtown College. His study of economics comes with a desire to make a real difference in the world, so working with the Centre\u2019s Poverty-Free World Campaign, which has a goal to relieve Bangladesh of poverty by 2030, was the optimal opportunity.<\/p>\n

The other 2014 scholarship recipient, Alyssa Zerbe \u201915, is working with Partners of the Americas\u2019 Ambassadors for Prosperity Program in Bogota, Colombia.The idea for the IGO\/NGO Summer Internship Financial Support Program came from Dr. Oya Dursun-Ozkanca, associate professor of political science and director of the International Studies minor program. \u201cAs an undergraduate, I had to forego a very prestigious internship opportunity in Europe, since such internships are often unpaid,\u201d she said. \u201cSince then, I thought that creating an opportunity for our students to conduct internships abroad at intergovernmental or nongovernmental organizations would be an excellent idea.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

The only way I was going to be able to take advantage of such an opportunity was by either funding the trip myself or raising money from family and friends.\u201d<\/h2>\n<\/blockquote>\n

NGOs, or nongovernmental organizations, engaged in human rights, the environment or development work, often are set up by private citizens and are sometimes run by volunteers. The scholarship to make working with these organizations possible was incorporated into a larger Undergraduate International Studies and Foreign Language Program (UISFL) that was developed last year. The UISFL, made possible by the U.S. Department of Education, supports programs that strengthen and improve undergraduate instruction in international studies and foreign language. UISFL funding also supports programs that allow students to study abroad and incorporate cultural study into their educational experience.<\/p>\n

In its first year, the grant funded student travel to Germany to work in minority community hospitals, and it funded the College\u2019s first-ever NGO Conference in November 2013. The program has one more year of backing but, said Kenley, the hope is that \u201cwe can successfully secure sources for continued funding.\u201d<\/p>\n

The scholarship application process requires that the students already have internships lined up and upon completion, they present about their experiences and contributions at the next year\u2019s Scholarship and Creative Arts Day.<\/p>\n

Selection is then based on grades and an essay written about how the opportunity would fit into educational goals and plans. If chosen, the grant covers airfare and an hourly wage to cover living expenses and food. \u201cLiving is rather affordable,\u201d said Dr. David Kenley of the countries in which the students travel.<\/p>\n

Kenley, director of the Center for Global Understanding and Peacemaking and an associate professor of history, said the scholarship is important because \u201cstudents who wouldn\u2019t normally work for an NGO consider it because of the scholarship. \u2026 It provides a comfortable living and they build lasting networks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brill said he applied for the internship due to a strong interest in economics and because Mohammad Yunus, the College\u2019s 2012 Ware Lecturer, was the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize recipient for his contribution to microfinance. Because the Yunus Centre helps lift millions of Bangladeshi citizens from poverty, Brill wanted to be part of the work.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only way I was going to be able to take advantage of such an opportunity was by either funding the trip myself or raising money from family and friends,\u201d he said, noting that the NGO internship financial support provides the opportunity to make his dream of working with Yunus come true.<\/p>\n

Brill just returned from a study tour of the European Union in Brussels, Belgium, for an economics seminar class with the College\u2019s Dr. Sanjay Paul; he is heading to Bangladesh June 7.<\/p>\n

Considering that he\u2019d already spent four years away from his family while in the Marines, he said he was a little nervous about telling them that he was leaving again, \u201cbut they were very reassuring in the sense that they told (and continue to tell me) how proud they were of me, and that I should take advantage of this amazing opportunity!\u201d<\/p>\n

While in Dhaka, Brill hopes to \u201clearn first-hand the effects of poverty in a Third World country and what organizations such as the Yunus Centre are doing to fix this global problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then, after graduating next May, Brill said he\u2019d like to work with veterans living in poverty, \u201cespecially those who are homeless,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a real problem we’re facing in America and, as a veteran, myself, I understand the struggles that many veterans face after coming home from war. Fortunately, for me there are many reputable organizations that are trying to combat veteran poverty, so I’m hoping that I will be able to find gainful employment with one of these groups.\u201d\"logo<\/a>Zerbe, the second awardee, applied for the NGO scholarship so she could accept an internship with Partners of America, she said. The scholarship covers a program fee and her airfare to Colombia; the hourly wage portion helps pay bills. \u201cI would not have been able to go away for six weeks without making at least some profit, as I am responsible for most of my financial expenses such as rent, bills, college loans …\u201d<\/p>\n

The social work major begins her six-week internship June 29 with Fundacion CreSiendo<\/a>, which promotes integral development of children and youth in Bogota. She\u2019ll be working with children of all ages who have been abandoned and neglected. \u201cI will be aiding them in achieving their mission and goals,\u201d she said, adding that she hopes to learn more about similarities and differences between social work in the United States and another country.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy passion is helping others, in particular children, which is one of the reasons I chose this internship,\u201d Zerbe said. As a student member of the College\u2019s Social Work Advisory Board, Zerbe has participated in several service learning opportunities in Lancaster City, working with the Lancaster County Youth Intervention Center, and teaches English with the Washington Elementary after-school program.<\/p>\n

In Colombia Zerbe will live with a host family, where she will use her Spanish language skills and learns about the city and life in Bogota. As a Spanish minor, she\u2019ll be participating in a four-credit language class while in Bogota in the hope of becoming more fluent.<\/p>\n

After E-town, Zerbe plans to attend graduate school at the University of Pittsburgh or the University of Maryland for her master\u2019s in social work. \u201cAfterwards,\u201d she said, \u201cI plan to work with children and families.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Stephen Brill \u201915 was notified of his $10,000 NGO scholarship, he was in the process of querying family members and military friends about how to raise money so he could take advantage of an internship with the Yunus Centre in Dhaka, Bangladesh. \u201cWhen I found out that I had been awarded the scholarship it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":2249,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[595,598,177,597,144,197,596,599,600,594],"class_list":["post-2239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-real-world-learning","tag-alyssa-zerbe","tag-bogota-colombia","tag-david-kenley","tag-dhaka-bangladesh","tag-e-a-harvey","tag-elizabethtown-college","tag-mohammad-yunus","tag-ngo-summer-internship-financial-support-program","tag-oya-dursun-ozkanca","tag-stephen-brill","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2239"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2239\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2372,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2239\/revisions\/2372"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2249"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}