Current Interns

Katherine Felt

Katherine is a junior in the Schreyer Honors College at Penn State University, and an alumna of the Pennsylvania Governor’s School for International Studies. She is pursuing a BA in International Politics and Russian, along with a minor in French and Francophone Studies. Katherine has spent the past year working as a research assistant for the Policy Agendas Project at Penn State. Additionally, she has taught English as a Second Language to entry-level students in the Greater Philadelphia Area. After graduation, Katherine hopes to enter into the Peace Corps and eventually attend law school.

Gabriel González-Kreisberg

Gabriel González-Kreisberg is a rising senior at Wesleyan University, pursuing a BA in Government as well as Certificates in International Relations and Environmental Studies. While at Wesleyan, Gabe is a research assistant in an Oceanography Lab studying the distribution of Bioluminescent Dinoflagellates in bays in Vieques, Puerto Rico, is a member of the Government Majors Committee, and plays for the varsity Men’s Basketball Team. Last summer he spent 10 weeks in Washington as an intern with the Center for Community Change working on their Community Voting Project. Upon graduation next year, Gabe would like to begin a career in the US Foreign Service, another federal agency, or continue his work with civic and political engagement.

Alicia Lovett

Alicia is a senior honors student at the University of San Diego, majoring in International Relations with a minor in Asian Studies. She spent the fall semester abroad on the University of Virginia’s Semester at Sea program, traveling to 9 different countries including Hawai’I, Japan, China, Vietnam, Thailand, India, Egypt, Turkey, Croatia, and Spain. In the spring Alicia tutored weekly for The Tariq Khamisa Foundation and is currently the president of her sorority. She was also inducted into Mortar Board and the Order of Omega in 2008. Alicia hopes to do Teach for America in her native Texas and later go on to graduate school.

Former Intern Testimonials

Adeola Olagunju, Summer 2007

Working at ICP has been a truly rewarding and educational experience for me. During my nine-week summer internship I have had the opportunity to work with each staff member on wide array projects going on in the office. For the v project, I researched, interviewed, and wrote case studies for innovative international youth service programs while also contributing to some French translation. In addition to this, I have contributed to the development of the Talloires Network by creating a stratagem to further student engagement; accompanied staff to Capitol Hill for the introduction of the Summer of Service Legislation that ICP co-authored to the House of Representatives; as well as accompanied Chief Executive Officer, Susan Stroud to a digital video conference with Palestinian leaders of the Palestinian National Commission for Voluntary Work at the State Department. As the intern assigned to youth service programs in the regions of Sub Saharan Africa, the Middle East, and North Africa, I have kept abreast of all the current news related to youth service in these regions while simultaneously cataloging this and any other information ICP has into our searchable world database of youth service programs (available on our website) and ICP’s in-house library. As the intern designated to the Middle East, I have also written a country profile for the August installment of our monthly newsletter for Palestine, based upon my own research, my experience a the digital video conference, and an interview with a representative of an organization present there. My most important and rewarding project, however, has been overseeing the development, creation, and (hopeful) completion of the Critical National Needs publication with a fellow intern.

Lily Axelrod, Summer 2007

I had a fantastic summer working at ICP. The staff made me feel welcome right away, and I enjoyed the office's collegial atmosphere, flexible schedule, and fun location in Dupont Circle. As an undergrad, I felt like I was treated like a full member of the staff and given challenging projects which related to my interests. I primarily worked on our contract with UNICEF to study youth civic engagement in East Asia and the Pacific. I designed a focus group discussion which was used with young volunteers in the region, helped design and disseminate questionnaires to learn about specific programs and nations contexts for youth civic participation, and conducted background research for the final paper. In addition to the UNICEF study, I worked on our project for v, a British charity seeking to learn about innovative volunteer programs around the world. I put my Spanish skills to the test interviewing young volunteers in Latin America, wrote up the results of my research, and contributed to the final report to v. I also wrote an article about a Hungarian youth service program for ICP's online newsletter, contributed to apaper about youth service in post-conflict countries, and attended a meeting on the Hill regarding the Summer of Service legislation ICP is promoting.

Sejal Jhaveri, Summer 2007

During my time at ICP I worked on a variety of projects. The main project I worked on was the Critical National Needs paper. This paper focused on youth service organizations that addressed national needs such as literacy, earthquake relief, and HIV/AIDS prevention. During my internship we wrote a large portion of the paper and were given creative freedom which allowed me to extend my knowledge of youth service and take a major role in the development of this paper. In addition I worked on projects like the v report, writing the IANYS box for the newsletter and the database. All the projects I was given at ICP were determined by my interests and allowed me to learn valuable skills and study new information. My time at ICP was highlighted by the incredible people I worked with and the new and innovative projects I was able to take part in.

Bryan Seck, Spring 2007

From January to May 2007, I was the Research and Communications intern at ICP. In this position, I wrote newsletter articles, researched and wrote memos on ICP projects and interests, and designed and implemented a database and website of National Youth Service Policies and Civic Engagement Programs worldwide. When working on the database project, I was given space to take the lead and transform data from an in-house Excel file to a fully searchable and updatable website/search engine open to all users worldwide. The two project coordinators (Katherine Hutter and Charlotte McDowell) and I worked together to format the database and its website to be intuitive for users searching for policy and program information and for future ICP interns who will constantly update the database through the website. The National Youth Service Policy and Civic Engagement Program database and website is a collaborative success in which I am very proud to have participated and from which I have learned immensely.