吃瓜tv

Internships are a great opportunity to apply what you learn in the classroom to life in the real world. Here,聽recent 吃瓜tv聽international and聽comparative聽politics聽graduate Elizabeth Cleveland聽鈥�21聽shares聽her experience聽as Administrative and Communications聽Intern for the US Department of State at the US Mission to the OECD.聽As she juggled聽a variety of聽tasks 鈥� from drafting notes, readouts聽and summaries of the events she attended to editing videos for the聽US聽Mission鈥檚聽YouTube page聽鈥撀燛lizabeth realized during her internship that she聽wanted聽to pursue a career in international politics.聽

What are your pronouns?

She/her/hers

Tell us a little bit about your background?

I am from Sycamore, Illinois,聽in the far west suburbs of Chicago. Before 吃瓜tv, I had only lived in the US but my parents work in the aviation industry so I had traveled a lot before moving.聽

Which company/organization are you currently interning with?

I interned for the US Department of State at the US Mission to the OECD.

Where is your internship taking place?聽

My internship took place in聽Paris, France.聽

When is your internship taking place?

Fall 2019聽

What is your job title?

Administrative and Communications Intern

What types of responsibilities and/or tasks do you have in your internship? What's a typical day for you like?

While my responsibilities varied, a large part of my internship was attending meetings, conferences聽and briefings and subsequently providing readouts and summaries of the events that had transpired. In addition, I drafted several cables that were sent back to Washington DC and to other diplomatic posts across the world. In working with the聽folks at the聽Department of Energy, I acted as logistical manager,聽planning for high-level delegation visits and helping聽staff the events as they occurred. I edited videos that聽were uploaded onto the US Mission to the OECD YouTube page, drafted notes and cables used by US delegates and visitors to the OECD, and staffed the IEA Ministerial in December.聽

What are the biggest challenges and successes you鈥檝e experienced during your internship?聽聽

The biggest challenge during my internship was the RATP strike of Winter 2019. We had a very important delegation coming from Washington DC right at the start of the strike and had to coordinate their movements and commitments around聽it.聽

What language(s) are you speaking/using in your internship?聽聽

The聽OECD鈥檚 official languages are French and English,聽and I used both while interning.聽

Tells us about your future goals/aspirations. Is this internship relevant? Do you think it will help you along the way? How?聽

This internship was extremely helpful in narrowing down my goals. It taught me what I do and do not want from a future career. I feel聽ready聽to enter into a career in politics聽now, especially a career in diplomacy. I had never really considered a career in the foreign service prior to this internship but it is now a contender. It has confirmed that this is the field I want to work in and has encouraged me to pursue a career in international politics.聽