(Sophomores Malia Simon and Katherine Moronta Rodriguez will depart for Hong King and Argentina in June for the Cultural Vistas Fellowship. Picture provided by Malia Simon)
By Victoria Durgin, Asst. Digital Media Editor
For the second year in a row, nearly one-sixth of all students accepted to a competitive international fellowship program are Susquehanna students.
Sophomores Malia Simon and Katherine Moronta Rodriguez were both accepted to the Cultural Vistas Fellowship Program. According to its website, the program sends no more than 15 fellows abroad to encourage international learning and collaboration that promotes confidence and skill.
The Cultural Vistas fellowship sends selected students to either Argentina, China or Germany, all expenses paid, to complete an eight-week long internship over the summer.
This summer, Simon will travel to Hong Kong; Rodriguez will go to Argentina. According to the program’s website, the internship placements this summer all focus on civic engagement and youth involvement.
The program encourages professional development and growth through immersion in a different culture, according to the Cultural Vistas website. The entry-level internships offered each summer vary, but tend to match the interests of the chosen fellows.
The cultural immersion of the program was very exciting to Rodriguez.
“Moving from Puerto Rico to the United States seven years ago has taught me how education and international opportunities can change the ways you look at the world and your life itself,” Rodriguez said.
She also said she thinks the fellowship will allow her to experience that in Argentina specifically.
For Simon, she is hoping that the fellowship will allow her to bring back environmental knowledge to her communities.
“I look forward to living in this cross-cultural experience and bringing back more environmental knowledge…to my career at Susquehanna University, but also to my Native nations back at my Hogan, my home,” Simon said.
According to Karen Mura, the faculty coordinator for fellowship advising, the program has a “huge pool of potential applicants” because the program is open to sophomores and juniors at any American college or university.
Simon and Rodriguez both had to apply for the program in the fall. The process, according to Mura, involves several short essay questions. Additionally, all applicants must provide a detailed plan for a service project they will carry out upon returning from the program.
A portion of the applicants are then selected to complete an interview with the program before the fellowship is awarded. The interviews for the programs offered in Argentina and Germany are conducted in Spanish and German, respectively.
Rodriguez said she thinks the program will give her an opportunity to gain experience and freedom as well as a chance to bring ideas back to Susquehanna.
“I also want to bring back the skills I will learn in my internship to get better understanding of the world and how it can benefit Susquehanna itself, for me as a student and for others to learn,” Rodriguez said.
The two Susquehanna students chosen last year were junior Donavan Gayles and senior Aiyoman Hayman. They were two of 12 students chosen for the fellowship last year, according to mySU.
Simon and Rodriguez will not know where they are interning until May. According to the program’s website, the fellows depart for their internships in June.
They will be in their respective sites until mid-August, when they will return first to New York City for a reflection and re-adjustment seminar before returning home.