Jenna Paritee

Paritee worked remotely for Mensajeros de la Paz, a non-governmental organization based in Argentina that promotes and protects children, adolescents, and the elderly who find themselves in vulnerable social situations.

During her internship, Paritee located possible funding opportunities for the programs run by Mensajeros, researching grants and making recommendations to organization leadership on which funding best matched their mission. She also helped translate the organization’s COVID-19 protocols from Spanish to English.

“Mensajeros is an organization that continues to have an amazingly positive role in its community and in times like these, it is easy to see how incredibly important that is,” Paritee said. “This experience also reinforced how passionate I am about wanting to find and educate myself on meaningful ways that I can help people.

“Human Development and Family Studies is a major all about interacting and working with people,” she continued. “It is a major that emphasizes how crucial structure and resources are to helping people thrive. Mensajeros continues to give vulnerable populations those resources even in times as uncertain as these. Even though I didn’t go to Buenos Aires to see that firsthand, their work shines through.”

As a junior, Paritee was eager to seek out an opportunity that would help prepare her for a career in the public health and non-profit sectors. Although it took time to receive her placement, Paritee said that she was supported by her internship coordinator and was encouraged to advocate for herself and the experience she wanted.

“Human services are based on in-person interactions, so trying to find a remote international experience within that field was difficult,” she said. “But throughout it all, I knew that everyone was trying their hardest to get me where I needed to be. And it ended up being a career-furthering experience even in the confines of our current remote environment.”