United Nations Internship Program
Felician College is one of only 18 colleges in the world to be granted Non-Governmental
Organization (NGO) status at the United Nations. NGOs work within the U.N. to foster
essential dialogue and planning to address many issues of global importance, especially
for the developing world. Issues such as human rights, climate change, conflict
resolution, security, economic development, terrorism, education, and health are
just some of the issues addressed by NGOs at the United Nations.
This special status gives Felician College students the unique opportunity to become
interns at the U.N. with unprecedented access to attend all U.N. conferences and
meet politicians, diplomats and ambassadors from around the world. Interns attend
briefings every Thursday at the U.N. and are privy to discussions and debates on
important world issues.
Interns are invited to be members of U.N. committees where they will not only gain
insight into the inner workings of the U.N. but also be involved in shaping and
influencing policy as members of these committees. For example, Dave Gethings served
as executive director of the Post-Conflict Foundation, working closely with government
officials in East Timor to discuss the redevelopment of this once conflict-torn
nation and Arielle Messuti served as public relations advisor for the project. Vanessa
D’Amato served as a Co-Chair of the Internet Sub-Committee for the NGOs Department
of Public Information (DPI/NGOs) Annual Conference. Two recent Felician graduates
also presented their work on climate change during this conference which is attended
by more than 2,000 NGOs from around the world.
Felician student interns have themselves looked like a mini U.N., with past participants
representing seven different nations around the globe - Poland, Russia, Denmark,
Korea, Bosnia, Japan and the United States. Mika Goto, a Felician student from Japan,
worked closely with one of the largest Catholic NGOs represented at the U.N., Caritas
Internationalis, which is a confederation of 162 Catholic relief, development and
social service organizations working to build a better world in more than 200 countries
and territories. She found the experience invaluable and learned how faith-based
organizations offer global developmental assistance. Maciej Fraczek, Felician student
and soccer player from Poland, was so affected by his experience as a U.N. intern
that he changed his major to business when he realized its importance and impact
on economic development and the global economy.
All Felician students are welcome to participate in the U.N. internship program.
This program embodies Felician’s Franciscan commitment to peace and justice and
transcends the boundaries of academic disciplines. The issues discussed at the U.N.
cross all disciplines, from health care for nursing majors to terrorism and security
issues for criminal justice majors, and all share a common goal – to make the world
a better place.
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