The International Council Internship Program

The benefits of developing an Internship Program have been many-fold - for our interns, for the International Council, and for our community. Our interns have given us extra hands to help grow the organization, to develop and maintain management information systems, and to work directly with our international visitors.

Since we created this initiative in the summer of 2008, our “International Council Internship Program” has grown by leaps and bounds.  Involvement with the ICTBR is helping a number of young people in the Tampa Bay community find their path forward in international business, finance and policy, not to mention creating for them an incredible professional network around the world.  

For example: Kyle Stang, a local USF graduate, won one of Florida’s first Mountbatten Institute Internships, and has lived in London for the past year and worked with Deutsche Bank on their currency trading floor. Kyle will complete his MBA in International Business in Bangkok this fall. Anabell Iglesias, from El Salvador, completed her Fulbright Fellowship at the University of Florida in mass communications, and achieved her graduate degree with honors. She is currently working on a project with Kimberly-Clark in Atlanta. Another intern, Chrystina Langan, is a full-time student at St. Petersburg College, working on an international relations degree while working full-time at Regions Bank. Mark Cohen, a USF senior majoring in international relations, commutes from Lakeland, and earns 3 credit hours from the university. Ashley Owens, a USF graduate, works with the Executive Director on programs. Ina Sofroni, a native Albanian, earned 6 credit hours from USF for her internship with us. Finally, Petar Dimitrijevic, a Serbian native who grew up in St. Petersburg, entered the UF Hough Graduate School of Business to pursue a MA in International Business.

Each of them will tell you that their career paths have been influenced by their internships with the International Council.

Typically, candidates selected for the International Council Internship Program undertake the following activities:

1.   Research & Program Support: Work on researching community resources, agenda development, contact information, etc. 

2.   MIS Updates: Prepare updates of existing MIS databases using Excel and existing templates. 

3.   Project Histories: Summaries of programs for inclusion on the ICTBR website. 

4.   Database Management: Creation of the International Council project management system. 

5.   Social Networking: Assistance in setting up International Council social network presence. 

6.   Web Communications: Research and recommendations of appropriate software for International Council web communications platform.  

7.   IVLP Program Assistance: Program assistance and interaction with IVLP visitors.