Summer 2012 Interns

 

Verena Calas is a senior at the University of San Diego majoring in History and minoring in Business Administration. She has interned at Pacific San Diego Magazine and been a college peer advisor for over 200 high school students through the California Student Opportunity and Access Program. Verena is an active member of Young Democrats and the Black Student Union on campus. Through the People to People Student Ambassador Program, Verena traveled through Japan, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, and England during the summers of 2007 and 2008. In 2011, she returned as an assistant leader and helped lead a delegation of high school students through Greece, Italy, and southern France.

Caroline Cook is in her senior year and majoring in Political Science with a minor in French at the University of San Diego. She studied in Paris during the fall semester of 2011. During her time at USD, she has been involved in many extracurricular activities including USD Invisible Children, LINK (Secretary), Associated Students’ Government (Communications Coordinator), Kappa Kappa Gamma (Committee Member), and National Society of Collegiate Scholars. She has also worked as a sales associate at Kate Spade New York in San Diego. Caroline is originally from Lake Oswego, Oregon. She is proficient in French and plans to attend law school to study criminal and international law after graduating in December.

 

Jaclyn Garcia earned a Masters in Global Studies: Focus on Human Rights and International Development from Brandeis University in 2011. She completed her undergraduate work at San Diego State University, with a double major in International Security and Conflict Resolution and Religious Studies. She has volunteered in the Refugee Resettlement department of Jewish Family Services for the past three years where she has taught ESL classes, attended welfare meetings, and worked with a refugee family from Burma. She studied in Örebro, Sweden in 2007, where she collaborated on projects concerning international logistics and intercultural competence in health and care. Jaclyn is proficient in Spanish and has traveled to over ten countries including Russia and Poland.

Alexandra (Xandra) Scott is a senior at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington. She is majoring in Politics and Government with an International Relations focus and minors in Spanish and Gender Studies. In 2011 she interned at the International Community Foundation in National City. In that position, she organized a major cross-border donation of medical equipment to Mexico. In 2010, Xandra served an internship in the San Diego office of Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), where she researched effects of legislation and assisted communication with local constituents. She has a wide variety of experiences including participating in local and international community service through her 13-year membership in Village Church Youth Group. Xandra is proficient in Spanish.

Alex Wais is a junior at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, majoring in Economics. He has worked as Assistant to the President at the Center for Social Advocacy in San Diego and has interned at Price Charities, the International Rescue Committee (IRC), the San Diego Superior Court, and the Mexican Institute of Family and Population Research in Mexico City. At IRC he worked with refugee entrepreneurs to help them better market their businesses, and in Mexico City he researched a Google AdWords grant which resulted in $10,000 of free ad space for six months. Alex is a member of Building Understanding through International Learning and Development (BUILD), an organization through which he has done volunteer work in support of a project implemented in the department of Quetzaltenango, Guatemala. He has research interests in urban health in Bolivia and in political economy in Kenya and Tanzania, and is proficient in Spanish.