By Waverly Colville
AIESEC at Mizzou and the MU Office of Service-Learning hosted their annual Global Citizen’s Fair at the Multicultural Center on March 17.
At the fair, students discovered ways to volunteer or intern abroad through AIESEC, an international not-for-profit organization that sends students abroad, and how to gain academic credit through the Office of Service-Learning. AIESEC at Mizzou hoped that its location would attract people who wanted to learn about different cultures, vice president of communications Lucy Wynn said.
AIESEC programs are located in 124 countries and territories. In 2013, students participated in over 28,000 internships. Local chapters are active across the US and around the world to promote student travel.
The cost to work with AIESEC is $500. The application is free, but there is a $150 fee to register to the online database that houses the opportunities and $350 to find the program. The price of the plane ticket is not included.
“Working with AIESEC is more cost effective than a study abroad, especially if you get credit through the Office of Service-Learning,” Wynn said.
These international internships are eligible for 3-6 credit hours. Most often the credit is counted as general honors credit, though every student is eligible even if they are not an honors student. Students may also work with their specific departments for credit specific to their major or minor.
“Many students say finances are why they can’t go but there are lots of opportunities for credit and scholarships through all the different offices on campus,” Margaret Cleveland, student assistant in the Office of Service-Learning said.
AIESEC at Mizzou hopes to send at least 30 students abroad each year. The number of students per trip depends on location or job. AIESEC organizes individual trips and “batch matches” which send a large group of students together from around the country to the same location.
“AIESEC tries to send students from a bunch of universities so while you’re learning about a different culture in another country, you’re also learning from other students in the United States,” Wynn said.
While abroad, AIESEC sets up transportation, living conditions and other amenities. They are a support system for a student’s entire stay, so they are never on their own. AIESEC at Mizzou maintains regular contact with other AIESEC chapters all around the world to exchange internship opportunities in Missouri for international students and around the world for MU students.
By creating a more global community at MU, Wynn hopes people learn about otherand themselves, then bring those lessons back to campus.
“By traveling, people learn about the people they visit and it affects them on a personal level and they grow as a human,” Wynn said. “An individual gets changed.”
Cleveland also stressed the importance of traveling to students.
“By participating in another culture you learn so much and about yourself as a person,” Cleveland said. “If you don’t do it when you’re in college, you’ll regret it later in life.”
AIESEC was founded based on these principles. A group of students started this program after World War II because they found that misconceptions about different cultures were a major cause of conflict. They hope to raise global awareness by increasing cross-cultural communication.
“We want people to be more aware of the issues in the world,” Wynn said. “I really hope that through AIESEC’s presence on campus, students can understand people better. There’s a lot of fear when you don’t understand someone that really is unnecessary.”
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