We’ve had interns before, but never quite like this – we’ve got 25 incredible students in the office this summer, helping us with research, event planning, voter registration, and everything in between. Meet the crew:
Allan Van Vliet is a sophomore studying Urban and Environmental Policy at Occidental College in Los Angeles, California, and started interning at CIO in May 2012. Born and raised in Portland, and with a long family history of public service, he has a great interest in local policy and politics. He hopes to work with CIO to improve social justice and equity, and to help further his own understanding of the social issues facing the state of Oregon.
Born and raised in Seattle, WA, Alaina Scherer is a recent graduate from Lewis & Clark College. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and Anthropology with a minor in Latin American Studies, an academic focus that allowed her to explore indigenous rights in Latin America and immigrant and refugee rights in the US. She was able to explore the many facets immigration and indigenous issues both academically and experientially during her time abroad in Ecuador. She has always been passionate about intercultural communication and social justice. Alaina completed her undergraduate degree with a thesis exploring the ways in which indigenous people in Chiapas use video-making as a post-colonial tool. Alaina is excited about the opportunity to intern with CIO to learn more about immigrant and refugee rights, public policy, and community organizing in Portland.
Nicholas Farley
Goldann Salazar
Jessica McDonald
Born in California to Belgian parents, Eline Leemans has been passionate about cultures and human rights from a young age. Eline loves running, climbing, and exploring. She currently attends Lewis & Clark College, in Portland, Oregon, where she studies sociology, anthropology, and art. She is excited to further explore social dynamics and help advocate for the rights of people facing injustices through CIO.
Zoe Taylor
Dharma Taylor
Born in Boca Raton, Florida, Allya Yourish moved to Oregon ten years ago. She attends Lincoln High School while sitting on the board for pNCSY and Mission: Citizen. She spent a year on Lincoln’s Constitution Team, learning about the structure, purpose, and history of government and is working with CIO this summer to attempt to make a positive difference in her community. She’ll be a senior next year and is looking forward to a future filled with public policy, books, and mugs of tea.
Miles Shepard
Mical Yohannes
Lukas Schwab attends Lincoln High School. He does Speech and Debate. He will be a sophomore in the fall. He learned about this internship opportunity though Andrew Riley, his Speech and Debate coach and CIO’s Public Policy Director. He’d like to use this internship to learn more about Public Policy.
Griffin Gonzalez will be a junior at Cleveland High School. He’s the captain of the speech team at Cleveland, and represent the student body on the school’s site council. He loves history, and is taking multiple history classes at Portland State University this summer and next fall. He loves to read. He loves to write. He makes great hash browns. And most importantly, he’s looking forward to doing some great work at the Center For Intercultural Organizing this summer!
Emma Hoffman is going to be a junior at Lincoln High School next year. She does speech and debate at Lincoln, and is on the newspaper staff. She also plays string bass. While at CIO, she hopes to learn how an office works. She would like to work with communications, children, and education. She is really looking forward to working at CIO, and becoming more educated about public policy and immigrant rights.
Lane Barton recently graduated from Lincoln High School and will be attending Whitman College in the fall. He is a big fan of just about every sport, having played baseball freshman and sophomore years as well as recreational soccer and basketball for a total of seven years in high school. In his free time he also enjoys the company of friends and playing Settlers of Catan. His goals for the time he will be working at CIO are to gain a better understanding of state laws and policy making, as well as improving his ability to interact with complete strangers.
Jordan Edelson
Carmen Alfaro
Thien Nguyen
Alex Serrurier
Avery Ballato
Gina Philippi graduated from Lincoln High School this June. She will be attending UCLA in the fall. In her free time she enjoys mentoring, serving as an Outdoor School counselor, playing guitar and volunteering with her community service club. She is most excited about gaining exposure to the policy-making process this summer, as she hopes to pursue this as a potential career path. Healthcare-related policy particularly interests her, and she looks forward to being involved in this area of CIO’s work.
Erika Nguyen, a native of Portland, Oregon, is going to be a senior at Lincoln High School. She found out about CIO from another CIO intern, Allya Yourish and is excited about all the various opportunities and things she is going to learn about public policy and how a non-profit organization is organized. Upon reading the website, she was instantly inspired and motivated. Aside from CIO, Erika is heavily involved in the community, as a Jefferson Dancer, president of the Key Club of Lincoln High School, and involved in the leadership and organization of Lincoln programs, Cardinal Mentors and the International Studies Center.
Alexandra Ring is a student at Lincoln High School. She has lived in Portland her whole life and enjoys volunteering. She enjoys drawing and hanging out with her friends
Natasha Baranow goes to Wilson High School. She’s sixteen years old, and she’ll be a junior in the fall. Her hobbies include reading, writing, playing piano, and learning. She has a passion for languages, and she is taking Spanish and French (and hopes to take German next year). Her mother is an immigrant from Poland, so she also speaks Polish fluently. Since she also used to go to Portland Jewish Academy, she have a lot of experience with Hebrew. Being busy is important to her, so she’s involved in many extra-curriculars. She is part of speech and debate, Global Citizens Corps, Literary Magazine and several other clubs. She’s very interested in the field of social justice and hopes to accomplish a lot while at CIO. She loves to work with new people and would like to expand her knowledge and experience concerning several different areas of public policy.
Rafid Al-Sadiq is a student at Pepperdine University. His major is Public policy concentrated in Economics and International Relations studies. Last year, he researched the effects of immigration and the diverse demographics on the US identity. Also he did another research about the effects of the government’s bills on people life. He has an IT degree and Project Management certificate. He will try his best to utilize his qualifications during his internship. By joining the Central of Intercultural Organizing, he hopes his research and analysis in education, workforce development and criminal justice will be great contributions to the Center for Intercultural Organizing. He will start with this week with the work force development and education among refugees.
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