‘Many Different Perspectives’ Students in the Cape Town Summer Internship Program gain professional experience and a better understanding of South Africa’s culture.
W&L student group at the Cape of Good Hope. Photo courtesy Connect123.Thirteen W&L students traveled to Cape Town this summer to get experience in professional fields and learn more about South Africa’s culture, climate and history.
The Cape Town Summer Internship Program is an eight-week program offered by the Business Administration and Politics departments that combines in-class learning with field work. Students from different major disciplines engage their readings and navigate their field work through class meetings, a paper, journaling, blogging and a final poster.
Participating students work 30 hours a week in various fields that match their professional interests, such as advertising, education, finance, human rights and web development. They get practical experience, but also enjoy the opportunity to give back to the community.
“This experience has helped me refine the career I am interested in pursuing in the future,” said Sam Pumphrey ’20, who worked at the Centre for Rural Legal Studies. “It gave me a deeper understanding of the organization’s activities and the political climate within South Africa.”
From visiting the Cape of Good Hope to doing service on Mandela Day, the students immersed themselves in the local community. Their internships, along with other site-based and classroom learning opportunities, foster a deeper understanding of South Africa’s post‐apartheid political system and societal landscape.
While interning at Workers World Media Production, Tate Mikkelsen ’20 attended the protest on Refugee Day in the city of Cape Town and interviewed the people present there.
“I felt very lucky to have witnessed something like that and to be able to gain so many different perspectives of it,” Mikkelsen said. “I also realized that I want to get more involved in improving the global community, and I want to work more with NGOs to help people in need gain access.”
Through this internship, students have gained invaluable insight into their future careers— as well as their role in the global work force.
“I was given an opportunity to pursue a line of work that was not only fulfilling and aligned to my skills,” said Jonathan Pezzi ’19, one of the two SHECP interns in South Africa, “but also had the potential to make a positive contribution to people’s lives.”
Find out more about students’ #wlusummer18 experiences on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram — @wlunews.
All photos in the following slideshow are courtesy of Connect-123.
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