Summer 2013 InteRDom Interns Conclude Orientation Week

InteRDom is proud to announce the completion of an exciting and successful orientation week for the Summer 2013 InteRDom interns in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. During the week of June 3, 2013, InteRDom welcomed nine students hailing from the United States and Europe, who spent the week preparing for their internships, research, academic studies and cultural excursions in which they will participate this summer.

The InteRDom team carried out a series
of workshops, meetings and events during orientation week that helped students to settle into their new environment and to adjust to Dominican culture. Some of the highlights of the week included: an opening presentation and tour of the Foundation’s facilities, a welcome lunch at Hermanos Villar, a tour of InteRDom’s partner university Universidad Iberoamericana (UNIBE), a tutorial and practicum on the
use of public transportation in the country, workshops on Business Etiquette as well as Race and Gender in the Dominican Republic, and interviews by InteRDom staff for participation in the InteRDom Correspondent Program.

On Thursday, June 6, students went on their first
cultural excursion of the summer in a guided tour of Santo Domingo’s historic Colonial Zone, the first city of the New World. This cultural activity allowed the interns to become more familiar with Dominican history and culture in the capital city of the Dominican Republic.

The week concluded with Business Day, which brings together all of the interns and the organizations and companies for which they work in order to define the remaining details of their
internship agreements, sign internship contracts, and present their projects to the rest of the interns and organizations. Business Day gives both the interns and the organizations an excellent opportunity to establish professional networks and learn about new projects that other organizations are implementing in the country. It also serves as an important bridge for the students to get to know their employers before the official start date of their internships.

Among the
organizations and businesses that will receive international interns through InteRDom this summer are: Major League Baseball, Cámara de Diputados de la República Dominicana, Fundación Global Democracia y Desarrollo (FUNGLODE), Santo
Domingo Institute of Technology (INTEC), Hospital General de la Plaza de la Salud (HGPS), Fundación Aprendiendo a Vivir, Consejo Dominicano de Relaciones Internacionales (CDRI), Observatorio Dominico-Haitiano,
Observatorio Político Dominicano (OPD), Techo, and Banco Central de la República Dominicana.

The Summer 2013 program will also include weekly events at FUNGLODE; journal entries; and participation in the InteRDom Blog and Correspondent Program. InteRDom also introduced two new interactive media projects for the summer; the InteRDom Baton, a collaboration of photos between InteRDom interns who will pass the InteRDom Baton (iPod) around during the summer to see what each intern does in a day in their program; and the InteRDom Photo Contest, which will give students the opportunity to enter photos that they take during the summer into a contest hosted by InteRDom.

InteRDom, an initiative of Global Foundation for Democracy and Development (GFDD) and Fundación Global Democracia y Desarrollo (FUNGLODE), is the premier internship, research and academic study program in the Dominican
Republic. It offers international students the opportunity to research important topics at the forefront of the United Nations agenda, obtain professional experience by interning with Dominican organizations and businesses related to their fields of study and/or earn academic credits by taking courses and seminars at a local university.