Bobcats abroad: SISAL's International Internship Program sends students to six countries in its first summer

When Andrew "AJ" Gacnik arrived at Moradok Mai Theatre in Thailand, he had one day to learn the music before he was onstage at the Hat Yai Jazz Festival, performing alongside international ensembles in front of an audience.

"While I knew Thailand to be a pretty country, I'm consistently blown away by all of the beautiful sights, sounds, and smells," Gacnik wrote in an update from the field. "Moradok Mai has been a great host to me, and they have helped to make the transition incredibly smooth given the intense traveling we've been doing."

Gacnik, a music education major with an instrumental emphasis, is one of the first cohort of students placed through the School of International Studies and Languages (SISAL) International Internship Program, which sent Bobcats to Thailand, Cambodia, Argentina, Greece, Northern Ireland, and Malaysia in its pilot summer.

Additional internship placements for summer 2027 include access-to-justice work in South Africa, environmental sustainability in Kenya, environmental policy research with the Theophrastus Institute, and wildlife conservation in Laos, among others.

Students interested in applying for internship opportunities in summer 2027 should attend the SISAL International Internship Fair in Baker 239 from 5-6 pm on Wednesday, Sept. 9.

A presidential pledge that became a program

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The program traces to the SISAL launch celebration last fall, when President Lori Stewart Gonzalez announced $50,000 in seed funding from the President's Circle Fund to establish an international internship program in the new school.

Faculty across colleges coordinated placements with international partner organizations and matched students to work in their academic fields rather than to general overseas postings. This produced a set of signature OHIO internships that would have been difficult to assemble any other way.

The internship experiences including working in national parks in Malaysia, cultural arts with a Thai theatre company, language teaching in Argentina, environmental policy research in Greece, human rights documentation in Northern Ireland and artificial intelligence technology research in Cambodia.

"These placements involve real-world responsibility,” said Haley Duschinski, director of the School of International Studies and Languages and senior advisor for global affairs. “As interns, students might be teaching a classroom of students, building a working medical prototype, or conducting legal research for court cases. When they return to campus, they've tested themselves in a professional setting, in another language and another culture, and they've learned something about their own capacities that they didn't expect. This is how we prepare students to go out and solve humanity's most urgent challenges.”

Environmental research on Lesvos

McKenna Thomas, a rising junior studying environmental pre-law, political science and social justice, spent seven weeks with the Theophrastus Research Institute (TheoRI) in Mytilene, on the Greek island of Lesvos.

"This is my first time to Greece and first time in Europe in general, so this opportunity means the absolute world to me," Thomas wrote. "It's been so amazing being able to partake in a research project on a topic that I'm very passionate about in such a beautiful place with such a supportive team."

Her project examined the environmental, social and political effects of the refugee facility on the island, drawing on interviews with current and former workers there. She also established contact with staff at Kenya's Kakuma camp, allowing her to compare how two very different facilities affect the communities and landscapes around them.

“McKenna’s internship with TheoRI builds on an ongoing applied research collaboration between the Voinovich School and Dr. Dimitrios Kantemnidis and his colleagues,” said Geoff Dabelko, professor in the Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Service. “McKenna’s experience demonstrates the value of integrating teaching, research, and practice through new international relationships on pressing cross-cutting challenges. We look forward to future internship placements with TheoRI as part of these efforts.” 

Teaching English in Rosario

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Emma Ellifritz, a rising senior studying linguistics with a minor in Spanish and a certificate in teaching English as a foreign language, spent June in Rosario, Argentina, working across two institutions that share a single building.  ISPI San Bartolomé is a teacher training college that holds classes in the evening, while Colegio San Bartolomé is a bilingual primary and secondary school that occupies the building during the day.

“I am proud that this internship grew out of my long-standing relationship with Instituto Superior San Bartolomé, a collaboration that has developed over many years through shared work in language teacher education and international exchange” said Muriel Gallego, associate professor of applied linguistics-Spanish and language program director in the Department of Modern Languages. 

“Building on the trust and shared vision developed through that relationship, I was able to establish a partnership between SISAL and ISPI to create an international experiential learning opportunity that benefits students at both institutions and strengthens educational ties between Argentina and the United States,” Gallego said. “I am grateful to Ariel Olmedo, ISPI’s director, who was instrumental in making Emma’s experience fruitful and rewarding.” 

Ellifritz’s days ran long as she spent her afternoons observing and student-teaching primary and secondary English classes, and then dedicated her evenings to auditing courses in translation, didactics, and teaching methodology. She also designed and hosted a weekly English conversation club and recorded a video interview with the ISPI’s director that will serve as an onboarding resource for future OHIO students.

Even after a decade of studying Spanish, her language skills were challenged and put to the test.

"It is much harder to communicate in a second language authentically in context than it is to take an exam on it," she wrote. Argentinian Spanish differed enough from what she had learned that she built her own dictionary of unfamiliar vocabulary and slang — another resource she is passing on.

Ellifritz was equally direct about what else the experience asked of her: learning to ask for help when needed and speak up for herself as forthrightly as Argentinian norms expect "challenged my personal habits and allowed me to grow into a more independent and capable person."

Human rights work in Derry

Theo Nalley, a rising senior majoring in political science pre-law with minors in philosophy and anthropology, spent two months with the Pat Finucane Centre in Derry, Northern Ireland, a human rights organization working on legacy cases from the era of The Troubles. Within the first two weeks, Nalley was researching and writing a poster presentation for the organization and had attended a court hearing where a major case was settled and the launch of a book on one of the Centre's cases.

Nalley first encountered the Centre in March, during the spring break study abroad program in Northern Ireland coordinated by the Center for Law, Justice and Culture. He was drawn immediately to the combination of archival research and active human rights advocacy.

Nalley spent two years doing archival research with OHIO’s anthropology department, reconnecting documents that had been dispersed across county lines, and also serves as president of the ACLU action team at OHIO. He plans to go into international  law and said the placement brought together different areas he had studying.

"It's so much work I've never done before, working with people I would never have had the opportunity to talk to in the States," Nalley wrote. The organization is small, which meant real responsibility arriving fast, alongside colleagues Nalley described as deeply experienced and consistently generous with a newcomer still learning the work.

Engineering and technology in Phnom Penh

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Two Ohio University students worked at CamTech, the Cambodia University of Technology and Science, whose president and vice president of academic affairs are both OHIO alumni.

Andrea Tiu, a rising sophomore majoring in engineering technology and management with minors in French and business administration, joined her host professor's research on tactile sensors for a prosthetic hand. She also used her CAD training to build a working prototype within the mathematical constraints he had established.

She was struck by how CamTech structures undergraduate education.

"The focus of the university is innovation and research, so students starting from first year begin on their research that continues until graduation," she wrote. She also noted how rare her opportunity was.

"I feel blessed to be able to travel as an engineering major, as the study abroad opportunities for engineers are scarce to none," Tiu said.

Calli Fout, a rising senior majoring in anthropology and English, worked with Dr. Chhem Kieth Rethy, Distinguished Professor of AI and Humanities at CamTech, to explore the anthropology of artificial intelligence through a central question: If a machine cannot suffer, and therefore cannot be conscious in Buddhist terms, who is accountable for the harm it causes?

National parks in Borneo

Three students spent six weeks with Sabah Parks in Malaysian Borneo, moving between field stations from the Crocker Range to the marine parks off Kota Kinabalu. The OHIO students were Garnet Kish, a wildlife and conservation biology major with a minor in chemistry, Savanna Singer, an Honors Tutorial College environmental studies major pursuing a certificate in Southeast Asian Studies, and Sofia Moliterno, a wildlife and conservation biology major. 

The students opened their experience with a four-day trek on the Salt Trail alongside roughly 30 Sabah Parks staff, community members, porters and safety officers. They ended with a closing ceremony to present ideas on the relationship between the parks, the trail, and the communities along it. During their 10 days at the Bayayo substation, the students helped to build and maintain the new station and planted native trees along the riverbank.

Throughout their placement, they explored the range of what Sabah Parks does: engaging at the Tunku Abdul Rahman Park marine center, preparing butterfly specimens at Poring, planting native trees along the riverbank at a new substation in Bayayo, and serving on the medical team at a Sabah Ministry of Tourism sports event.

Throughout the experience, they worked alongside Sabah Parks' own interns from Universiti Malaysia Sabah, comparing notes on conservation training in two countries.

What comes next

The pilot cohort has produced more than individual experiences.

• Ellifritz built onboarding materials for the next OHIO student in Rosario.
• Tiu and Fout established a student presence at a partner university where OHIO already has deep alumni ties.
• Nalley's placement grew directly out of a Center for Law, Justice and Culture study abroad program, showing how one international program can feed another.

Each placement tested a partnership that can now be repeated.

"I am pleased to see that my long-standing collaboration with the founder of Moradok Mai Community Theatre in Thailand, which began in 2013, has taken deep roots and became one of the SISAL international internship opportunities,” said Pittaya Paladroi-Shane, World Languages coordinator and associate professor of instruction in OHIO's Center for International Studies. “This partnership reflects a shared vision and the collective support of colleagues and partners, including several units at Ohio University and the Royal Thai Consulate-General in New York, all working together to create meaningful opportunities for talented OHIO students like AJ to immerse themselves in another culture and thrive through this unique experience.”

“AJ’s successful completion of the internship was made possible by not only his musical abilities but also his study of Thai language and culture before his departure,” Paladroi-Shane said. 

During his time in Thailand, Gacnik embraced new experiences, created learning materials for Thai students and gained a deeper appreciation for traditional Thai music, while also experiencing the unique expressions of Thai hospitality.

“These experiences cultivate cultural humility, adaptability, empathy and a deeper understanding of the world—qualities that cannot be fully developed in a classroom alone,” Paladroi-Shane  said.

Applications for summer 2027 placements are now open

You can find more information about international internships here.

Faculty and partners interested in developing new internship sites are invited to contact Duschinski at duschins@ohio.edu. 

Gifts in support of student international internships can be made to the School of International Studies and Languages Discretionary Fund at this link. Support helps cover airfare, housing, and living costs so that a student's ability to take a placement does not depend on what their family can afford.

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