United Nations internship for UOW student

May 22, 2007

Commerce postgraduate student, John Ayala, will be New York-bound next month after being selected as one of only 10 from around the world to undertake a coveted internship at the United Nations Headquarters.

The Colombia-born student will join the UN peacekeeping operations for two months.

“I have always wanted to work at the UN and I think it is going to teach me a lot as it will be my first opportunity to work for this kind of large organisation,” he said.

After a lengthy selection process involving several phone interviews, John was contacted in January and informed that he had been chosen.

UN officials were particularly impressed with his ability to speak fluent Spanish, French and English as well as a reasonable amount of Portuguese and Italian.

John has completed a Bachelor of Commerce at UOW and will graduate from a Master of Applied Finance in December this year.

Being a full-fee paying international student, a majority of his funds from working as waiter at Circular Quay go toward his educational and living expenses and he has little left over to fund his US trip.

He is hoping that he may receive sponsorship or scholarship to assist with his living costs while overseas.

*Anyone interested in providing financial assistance for John’s trip should contact Wollongong Undergraduate Students’ Association (WUSA) Advocacy Officer, Jason Hart on 02 4221 4206.