Alysha Bedig
Alysha with other State Department Interns
Major(s): Politics, Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies
Campus activities: Co-President of Adagio Dance Company, Adagio Dance Ensemble Member, Theatre, Orientation Leader
Where are you interning now (or have interned in the past)?
Department of State-US Embassy Cairo
The Department of State is the foreign-policy branch of the government, and US Embassy Cairo is the largest permanent diplomatic mission overseas, a regional hub for Middle Eastern diplomatic efforts. Offices and sections under the jurisdiction of US Embassy Cairo include but are not limited to: Economic-Political Section, Public Affairs Section, Consular Section, Naval Medical Research Unit (Regional), Regional Information Center (Regional—library/educational based), American Cultural Center (Alexandria), Office of Military Cooperation, Office of Regional Affairs, and the US Agency for International Development.
My internship took place in the Public Affairs Section, which is comprised of the Cultural Affairs Office and the Press Office. The Cultural Affairs Office is responsible for cultivating relationships between the Embassy and Egyptian governmental and non-governmental contacts, especially in the fields of education, the arts, and religion. The Office is in charge of administering most DoS educational exchange programs, arranging educational and artistic events to represent American culture in Egypt, distribute small-scale grants for development initiatives with organizations throughout the country and region, and prepare the Ambassador for her dealings with any of these parties. The Press Office is responsible for monitoring all reports on the Ambassador/the US in local media, arranging press coverage for all Embassy functions, creating outreach events such as panel discussions on the US Elections, escorting high-level visitors and generally mediating the relationship between the personnel and activities of the Embassy and the Egyptian public. Naturally, there is a great deal of collaboration between all the various sections of the Embassy, as all work to support the Ambassador in her representation of the U.S. to the Egyptian community.
How did you find your internship?
I completed a DoS internship in Consular Affairs the previous summer and was alerted to the advanced-level work offered in embassy internship positions. Both years, I applied online through the DoS career website. I also received counseling from the DoS Representative in the Boston area, Deborah Grazes, stationed at Tufts University.
What resources did you utilize to help you prepare for the search?
After completing a prior internship with my Congresswoman's office, I received a folder containing information on all government internships; the State Department program was one of those mentioned.
What ways did you explore to fund your internship?
I was lucky enough to be accepted as a Hiatt WOW Fellow for the summer of 2008, which provided me with a $3500 stipend to finance my expenses during the internship. As I was already in the region due to study abroad, I did not incur any additional airfare costs.
What are the two most important things you learned through your internship?
Never go into an internship with expectations of how your supervisors may think of you, or tasks you feel you might deserve, or on the contrary, be too qualified for. Accept whatever is offered, do it well, and you will create a pattern of upwards trajectory that will continue throughout the course of your position. Make yourself useful, and take initiative—don't sit back and wait for your supervisor to assign you something, but rather, ask if there's anything you can help with. The more you display your willingness to assist and ability to multitask, the better your supervisor will be able to gauge your capabilities and talents. When you became an indispensable member of a team, your task load will expand and you will be exposed to a greater variety of work, and ultimately take away more from the internship. Secondly, make an effort to get to know all of your coworkers, and if you are working abroad, practice the native language—it often helps when making allies in the office.
What advice would you give other students looking for internships?
Always be planning ahead for the future and thinking about different opportunities you might want to try—the earlier you start on things, the more likely they are to materialize. In addition, recognize that getting a less-than-perfect job one year may lead to your dream internship in the future—I know that putting my time in domestically helped considerably in securing my international job with DoS. Though one internship may have been far more glamorous than the other, both were incredible learning experiences and served me well in different ways. Everything is cumulative.
How are you connecting this internship to your academic, personal, and career future?
From an academic standpoint, working at an embassy has allowed me to see many of the concepts I have learned at Brandeis put into practice, and has given me a broad understanding of the implementation of U.S. foreign policy that I never would have gotten in a classroom. Moreover, the exposure to different branches of the government represented at the Embassy has expanded my academic interests past those of what I came in with, to include topics such as national security and international legal cooperation. Even if I choose not to enter into the Foreign Service, I know that having this international work experience will serve me well in whatever field or program I enter into. At the end of the day, I have found a career field which fascinates me and matches well with my skill-sets, but this is only the beginning of what I hope will be a long period of professional exploration.