Internship Opportunity: NGO Youth Delegate at the UN

Call for Applications: NGO Youth Delegate at the United Nations

Applications for the October 2015-June 2016 internships are now open until Aug 1, 2015. Only applicants selected will be contacted. This is a 2 semester commitment position, subject to review at the end of each term.

Fordham University is accepting applications for undergrad/ graduate students to represent Fordham as a designated youth rep at the United Nations. This is a volunteer position for students interested in international affairs. NGO youth delegates work with Fordham’s primary representative at the UN to help foster the team's internationalization mission of helping young people become global citizens and provide opportunities for them to engage with the UN's global agenda. This position involves assisting the Fordham UN team with organizing events to engage youth with the NGO/UN community, assisting with UN study tours, attending high-level UN briefings and events, participating in International Day of Peace, UN Academic Impact Initiative events and more. Youth delegates will have a UN /NGO security badge and will have an opportunity to observe the work of the UN and its associated NGOs.

To read more about the work of Fordham youth reps read their blog:  https://fordhamimpactinitiative.wordpress.com/

Responsibilities of the Youth Delegate Position Include:

- Attending (3) briefings per month organized by the UN Department of Public Information on Thursdays   and writing a brief summary to be shared with NAFSA members, as well as other events on Thursdays

- Meeting with members of the Fordham UN rep team to attend a Thursday monthly meeting of the NGO/DPI Executive Committee Board

- Participating in planning meetings and networking with other UN DPI NGO youth representatives at the UN.  Must attend 1 monthly meeting with the NGO Youth reps group at UN

- Working approx 5-10 hours a week with Fordham NGO representatives at the UN to post on blog, attending meetings and participating in UN-NGO committee events

- Updating Fordham  listserve with UN contacts, updating blog about meetings/conference/ NGO briefing summaries

- Help create a newsletter with UN interested members for Fordham community

Qualifications:

Applicants must be current students 18- 32 years old who will be enrolled in a graduate or undergraduate program from Fall 2015 through June 2016.  Students should have full availability every Thursday during the semester (exceptions: sometimes there are no briefings/events on Thursdays) and live in or close to New York City so that transportation to and from the UN is reasonable and manageable. Youth delegates are expected to be culturally competent, dedicated, have a diplomatic personal style, excellent writing and communication skills, as well as the ability to work collaboratively with peers, senior NGO reps/UN officials and others, and should be available to serve Fall and Spring semester (for consistency).  Fluency in another language helpful but not required.

How to Apply:

Applications should  be submitted electronically to: Kelly Roberts; Fordham main representative at the UN.

An application must include the following 3 items:

- A statement of interest from you about this position and why you are best candidate. Also describe any relevant international and/or culturally relevant experience with diversity/UN/NGOs.

- Your Curriculum Vitae (CV)

- One letter of recommendation from a current or recent faculty member (that includes their contact information) whom you have had at least one semester of recent contact. This letter can be sent separately/ directly to Ms. Roberts with student’s name in the “subject” line. Faculty member must be willing to oversee your experience at the UN (make sure you complete obligations, enhance your experience etc).

All of this information must be in one Microsoft WORD document or PDF (with exception of the recommendation letter if necessary) and emailed to Ms. Kelly Roberts at: keroberts@fordham.edu. Use this heading in your email subject line: Fordham UN youth application.

If you have any questions about the application process, please contact Kelly Roberts by email.

Event Spotlight: Communicatons & Media Panel

By Billy Cribley, FCRH '17

On Monday, April 13, Career Services and the Department of Communications & Media Studies are hosting a Communications & Media Panel at 6pm in the South Lounge at Lincoln Center. Seven FCLC alumni will speak at the panel, all of whom were in your shoes at one point or another. They have jobs at places like ABC World News Tonight, NBC News, Marvel Entertainment, Maximum Films, SNL, Fox News, Good Housekeeping, and the Meredith Viera Show. These panelists weren’t just students once, they were students from your school!

Caitlin O’Kane currently works at NBC, and the real kicker is her final semester at Fordham was just last spring! Her first internship with the company was at CNBC, which is NBC Universal’s business and finance network. From there, she was proactive about getting her resume out and doing the best job she could – and the rest is history. What I found really awesome about Caitlin’s story was the little bit she was able to tell me about the Page Program. Basically, the program organizes all of its members and gives them different assignments in the company. It’s incredibly competitive—around 16000 students a year apply and only about 2% are accepted. But once you’re in, you’re IN. All the pages compete amongst themselves for specific positions amongst the different branches, and serve out said positions for 3 months at a time. The program itself is a year long, but you’re able to leave at anytime should you want to apply for a job: obviously, being in NBC’s Page Program gives you a little leverage when it comes to getting a position at NBC. As Caitlin puts it, you are trained to handle interviews well, act professionally, be a good assistant, and know as much as you can about the company. There’s a lot more about the program Caitlin can talk to you about the panel so definitely stop by!

Christina Frasca works at Fox News Edge currently, which is the branch of Fox news that provides news content to Fox affiliates around the country and abroad. She serves as writer and a producer, so she does anything and everything from writing TV scripts to editing interviews and producing news packages. When she was a student at FCLC, she served as news Editor for the campus’ paper, The Observer. This just goes to show that it’s important to follow your passions! Find what interests you and go for it with all you have, no matter what anyone says. Christina also took Brian Rose’s internship seminar each semester, which taught her many of the skills that ultimately carried her to the different positions she held. If you have the opportunity, check it out!

Christine Kopaczewski interned at Good Housekeeping magazine her senior year at Lincoln Center, and was offered a freelancing job for a few months and then was offered a full-time position after graduation. Most of her time in school her was focused on other internships in the music industry until she branched out and decided she wanted to focus more heavily on media. This is why it’s so important for all of us to look for as many opportunities as we can! You never know what position you might find that was actually your calling all along. Don’t pigeonhole yourself into thinking you ever HAVE to do something; do what you love!

Elissa Dauria currently holds the position of Creative Executive at a company called Maximum Films, and she helps film studios and TV networks find books they want to transition into shows or movies. She graduated from FCLC in 2010 and held internships at places like New Line Cinema and Summit Entertainment. Having originally graduated with intentions of becoming a producer, her experiences with her different internships has allowed her to see countless other tracks that may even be a better fit for her than producing!

Look, guys, I know I might be forcing this whole “don’t pigeonhole yourself, go out and do as many internships as you can” deal, but that’s just because it’s the truth. I’m only a sophomore here, but I’m willing to bet there’s a bunch of you out there just like me who are terrified at the prospect of careers and finding employment after graduation. And we have a right to be scared. But we have the tools to combat the fear literally at our fingertips. Opportunities like this panel happen often at Fordham, and if you’re going to spend all this money for an education, make sure you’re making a good investment. Take the time to network with people and push yourself harder than anyone else has before. You can do it! So drop on by this panel and talk to these awesome people. They want to help.