Sofia Redford ‘08
Pound Ridge, NY

Sofia Redford in majoring in Anthropology and working towards the Culture, Health and Science Five College Certificate. She had a summer internship at Mercicorps in Portland, OR.

I had a lot of responsibility and great freedom in taking the internship in the direction that I wanted.

When: Summer between sophomore year and junior year.

Why an international internship: I am interested in a career in public health with an international non-profit organization. This internship was my opportunity to get my foot in the door and try on that sort of environment, work and community and see if I actually wanted to work there. And I liked it! I think MHC International Internships are great and students should take advantage of them. My perspective expanded in learning how things are subdivided, but still interconnected in an organization like Mercicorps.

What language did you speak: English.

What did you do: My job was a web initiative. The website of the organization was about globalization and free markets, and it was run by interns. Daily activities included: updating, editing articles and finding new articles for the website. I also did some publicity: created a Facebook group and a MySpace page, helped in starting a blog and in initiating a photo and essay contest.

What next: I am in the process of developing an international internship. This time, it’s in Africa. If I like Africa, I might end up working there for a couple of years and then come back here for graduate school in public health. After that, I want to go to Africa again and finally return to the US for more graduate school – a doctorate.