November 17, 2011
Anna Karl from Oberhaid, Germany, currently a student at North Central Missouri College, has been chosen to be an intern in the U.S. Congress in Washington, D.C. in January.
Anna is in the United States as a participant in the Cultural Vistas program, previously the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange for Young Professionals. Cultural Vistas is sponsored by the U.S. Congress, U.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, and the German Parliament. It is a non-profit 501(c) (3) organization which offers support to thousands of students, early-career professionals, educational institutions, government agencies, businesses, and attorneys seeking to expand their involvement in the global arena. Karla McCollum, Admissions Director, applied on behalf of NCMC for a participant to be placed in Trenton in an effort to continue to bring cultural diversity to campus. In the past, NCMC has had students from several foreign countries.
As part of the Cultural Vistas program, Anna must live with a host family. She currently lives with Jean and Wayne Kleinschmidt of rural Trenton. Cultural Vistas pays her transportation and college tuition and provides her with a stipend for living expenses. “I am the first in my family to participate in an exchange program. Last year, I travelled to Peru to visit one of my friends who was on an exchange program there,” she remarked. “My experience here in the United States is much different from Germany – even though I am only 20 years old, I have already worked three years in a business setting. Germany doesn’t have high school and college like the U.S.; when I went to school, I went only one or two days a week and worked the rest of the time.”
Anna is enrolled for the fall semester at North Central Missouri College. In addition to taking 12 credit hours in her chosen field of study, business management, Anna must complete 40 volunteer hours in an office. She is currently working in the NCMC Development Office to fulfill this requirement of the Cultural Vistas program.
Starting in January, Ms. Karl will participate in two internships, one of which will be served in the U.S. Congress in Washington, D.C. She applied by writing an essay as to why she wanted to work in Congress as part of her internship experience in the U.S. Her essay included, in part, that she wanted to learn how the U.S. government worked compared to the German government. For six weeks she will work in an office at Congress and live with a host family in the Washington D.C. area.
In mid-February Anna will return to the Trenton area for a second internship. She and her sponsor, Karla McCollum, as well as NCMC Director of Federal Programs Jason Helton, are currently searching for an area business that would provide a full-time paid internship for her to work in an office setting through June 2012. Anna has skills in Word and Excel software programs as well as accounting. Anyone with such a position is asked to contact Karla McCollum at NCMC at kmccollum@mail.ncmissouri.edu or 660 359 3948 ext. 1401.
Anna Karl will return to Germany next summer after her year-long stay and is undecided as to whether she will continue her education or seek permanent employment in her home country.
At right: Anna Karl