International Development students travel to Washington, D.C.
By, Maria Gallucci
Communications Assistant, Center for International Studies
This spring, students in International Development Studies stepped out of the classroom routine to see their field put in action. 13 students, along with Director Jeili Li, traveled to Washington, D.C. from April 28-30 to visit six large non-governmental organizations.
“We’ve spent so much time in the classroom reading about development issues and theory,” said Lori Sargent, a first-year IDS graduate student who organized the trip. “We felt that it would be a perfect opportunity to see development in action and to see what would be expected once we graduate and what we would most likely be doing (with our degrees).”
Though students are familiar with organizations such as the World Bank and USAID, there is often a gap between textbook knowledge and reality—a gap that the trip to Washington hopes to narrow.
World Bank Group's presentation to visiting IDS students
“Through such visits, we can bring our students to the frontier of international development projects and let students know the immediate and most recent concerns of top-notch NGOs,” said Li. “If we don’t make the trip, then we don’t know that the information is there.”
On the first day of the trip, the group visited the World Bank, Chemonics International, and Population Services, Inc. The next day, the group visited Development Alternatives, Inc. and the Academy for Educational Development.
“(The trip) allowed us to understand the realities of the professions which we have chosen for ourselves,” said Shamim Mohammad, a first-year graduate student from India. “It also contributed greatly in our understanding of the intricacies involved in development work.
The final stop was to Management Systems International. Li said he invited a project manager from the firm to speak at Ohio next year, another way in which the IDS program can connect with organizations in Washington.
“I want our students to get to know these organizations,” he said. “I want our program and those organizations to build a collaboration,” as part of a two-way exchange of students and staff members.
Sargent said the trip was also beneficial in terms of internship opportunities. “We thought if we could get our foot in the door, get to know some of the people, perhaps it would give us an advantage when it came to internships,” she said.
Since the Washington trip, three IDS graduate students have accepted paid summer internships with organizations the group visited, an accomplishment Li credits to the trip.
“This totally exceeds our expectations,” he said. “That is exactly what I expect in the future for IDS students and the program.”