University of Mississippi senior Susanna Rychlak (l-r) of Oxford visits with friends Virginia Terry of Oxford and Campbell Hunt of Marion, Ill., at this summer's New York Mississippi Picnic in Central Park. Rychlak was in the Big Apple for a 10-week internship with Humanity in Action.
OXFORD, Miss. – An internship this summer with Humanity in Action in New York City and a study in Italy during the fall semester are unique experiences that University of Mississippi senior Susanna Rychlak of Oxford expects will add value to her education.
Majoring in international studies with a minor in Italian, Rychlak said she wanted to spend her summer before spring graduation pursuing an opportunity that would advance her personal, academic and professional goals, as well as have a positive impact on the world.
A member of the Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College and Croft Institute for International Studies, Rychlak decided to enroll in UM’s New York Internship Experience and seek a summer position that focused on international human rights. She not only landed her dream internship but she also received an Honors College fellowship to help with her summer expenses.“New York was the ideal place to find such a position because it is a cultural hub not only of the United States but also of the world,” Rychlak said. “Humanity in Action is an international organization, headquartered in New York, that educates, inspires and connects a network of university students and young professionals committed to promoting human rights, diversity and active citizenship in their own communities and around the world.”
Highlights of Rychlak’s 10-week internship included helping coordinate, from its NYC headquarters, Humanity in Action’s Fourth Annual International Conference in Warsaw, Poland; providing administrative, editorial and research support for Humanity in Action’s educational programs in international human and minority rights for undergraduate and recently graduated students in the U.S. and Europe; and going behind the scenes at the Google New York offices to help organize New York Times bestselling author Baratunde Thurston’s keynote address via Google Hangout to the Humanity in Action conference in Warsaw. An aside fun experience, Rychlak said, was touring the Google headquarters on a Razor scooter.
As she looks back on her summer, she considers it to have been “incredibly rewarding to work at an organization that makes such a tangible and positive impact.”
“The skills and practical experience that I gained at Humanity in Action, I believe, have prepared me to work in any professional setting, specifically in the international and nonprofit sector,” Rychlak said. “I also had the opportunity to be exposed to incredibly intelligent and influential people in the international and social justice fields.”
Rychlak, who plans to attend law school, credits the Croft Institute for International Studies with helping broaden her horizon and plan her future.
“Inspired by the sense of global citizenship that the Croft Institute has helped me to develop, I intend to pursue a career with an international focus; more specifically, in the legal and human rights field.”
Rychlak is scheduled to arrive Sept. 1 in Perugia, Italy, where she will enroll at the Umbra Institute. She will be taking three courses, including Advanced Italian Conversation and Composition, amounting to 13 hours of credit toward her UM degree. She said she also expects to have free time to travel around Southern Europe before returning home in December.
An Oxford native and graduate of Oxford High School, Rychlak is listed on the Chancellor’s Honor Roll among other UM honors. She is the daughter of Ron and Claire Rychlak. Ron Rychlak is a longtime member of the UM law school faculty.
She said her decision to attend the university was an easy one.
“As a native of Oxford, I have always had a very special relationship with Ole Miss,” she said. “When it came time to go to college, although I had many attractive options, I confidently and enthusiastically chose to attend the University of Mississippi. The opportunities that have been afforded me through the Honors College and the Croft Institute have made my undergraduate education thorough, challenging and rewarding.”
The New York Internship Experience and the Washington Internship Experience are coordinated through UM’s Division of Outreach and Continuing Education. Program Director Laura Antonow highly recommends them.
“The New York Internship Experience and the Washington Internship Experience provide a structured educational program with an extensive orientation, great housing and a cohort environment in which students really seem to thrive,” she said.
For more information about the NYIE and WIE programs, visit http://www.outreach.olemiss.edu/. To learn more about the Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College and Croft Institute for International Studies , visit http://www.honors.olemiss.edu/ and http://www.croft.olemiss.edu/home/.