Name: Kelby Booth
Class Year: 2027
Major: International Studies, Minor: Spanish
 
Internship Organization:  Corporación Dolores Sopeña
Internship Title:   Summer Intern
Location:  Santiago, Chile
 
What’s happening at your internship? We would love to hear what kind of work you are doing!  

View of Santiago from the teleférico on Cerro San Cristóbal

I am in Santiago, Chile with IES! IES has paired me with Corporación Sopeña, a non-profit focused on providing workshops, legal services, and general support for low income and migrant communities. At Corporación Sopeña I am working with a team to create accessible information around migrant rights and resources through videos that will be attached to the non-profits website. Our team has researched laws on immigration, resources for migrants, and have held conversations with the community to identify gaps of awareness. The constant changes and feelings towards immigrants has created fear within the migrant community living in Chile and our hope is to alleviate this fear through the spread of information. 

My co-interns and I at our shared desk

An alley in Valparaiso

 Not only am I interning in Chile this summer, but I am also enrolled in two courses. One of my courses is my internship seminar where I learn about work culture and labor laws in Santiago and Chile as a whole. This class allows me to reflect on my experience at my internship and gives me the space to understand and adjust to the Chilean work culture. My second course is Spanish for Professionals where I learn about life in Chile. This includes looking into the history and politics of Chile and how they have shaped health care, education, and daily life. Because my internship is in Chile, I have had the opportunity to explore Santiago, Valparaiso, Viña del mar, and the Atacama desert.

Why did you apply for this internship? 

I applied to the IES program because I want another opportunity to immerse myself in another culture and language. I have been studying Spanish throughout college, but I feel I make the most progress when I am immersed in the classroom, work, and home. IES also advertised that they place a lot of students with non-profits and that’s something I am interested in doing post-grad. I have worked with non-profits and had internships in the U.S. but I thought it would be a beneficial experience to understand work culture in another country. Specifically with non-profits, I wanted to learn about the approaches and strategies that these organizations use to support their community.
 
What has been your favorite part of this internship?

My favorite part of my internship at Corporación Sopeña is the flexibility of projects. When we all started with the organization they gave us an overview on how they operate, the services they provide or have provided in the past, and some areas that they felt needed attention. After this, each of us created project proposals based on the information the organization gave us and based on our own interest. With the flexibility and the structure of my internship, I was able to create a project that pertained to my personal and professional interests and skills. 

Can you talk about the skills you are learning and why they are important to you? 

I think the most obvious skill I am learning is how to use my Spanish in a professional setting but also in a way to convey important information. Using Spanish in a professional context has allowed me to expand my vocabulary, strengthen my grammar, while also giving me a new level of confidence. While I think learning Spanish in an academic setting is useful, it’s equally important to take the skills you learn in the classroom and practice them in a real world context. The whole point of learning a second language is to learn and communicate with others, and when you immerse yourself you are exercising your skill. Immersing yourself in a language gives you a new sense of confidence which is key for communicating in a second language because you’re not focused on having perfect grammar or on the details but rather you are focused on understanding each other. 

In addition to improving my Spanish skills, I am also using my creative abilities. At my internship I am doing research on the laws and government assistance for migrants in Chile, but I am also able to use my creative skills to create videos. In general, I would consider myself an artistically creative person but it is rare that I am able to use this in class or at work. Not only am I using my creativity to create informational videos, but I also need my creativity for my project proposal and general problem solving.