I worked as an all-rounder intern at a youth support institute in Cape Town, South Africa. There, I split my time working with young adults and youth in classrooms. With students ages 18-27, I worked to secure job opportunities for students ages 18-26 upon their completion of the program. With secondary students, I developed resumes and motivation letters, secured job shadowing placements for students, and completed student evaluations.

My experience working at a school in Cape Town directly led to me pursuing teaching. I loved having the opportunity to work with students, see them grow, and support their success. Many of the skills I used during my internship, particularly as it relates to relationship building with students, pertains to my job today.

Personally, it pushed me to become a more confident, open, independent, problem-solver. Living abroad, you find yourself out of your comfort zone so often that it's forced to grow. After my time in Cape Town, I was notably more social and extroverted. Professionally, my experience in Cape Town is always on my mind. I frequently make connections between the experiences of my students in Cape Town to my current students in Detroit. It made me realize that many of our struggles, and many of our joys, are shared across the world.