by Sarah Ripp, LACIS’ Assistant Director
During the 2020-2021 academic year, LACIS was incredibly fortunate to have the administrative support of two amazing undergraduate students: Annalise Ebert and Isabelle Johnson. While we are sad to see them leave their LACIS employment, we are thrilled to learn about their plans for the upcoming school year, which we will share below. Please join us in wishing them both the very best!
Annalise Ebert (LACIS’ Summer Intensive Portuguese Institute (SIPI) Program Coordinator):
What have you enjoyed most about working for LACIS?
The best parts about working at LACIS were the team and the topics. As a Spanish student who has traveled to a few LACIS countries and hopes to explore more, I was always genuinely interested and engaged in the work at LACIS. However, the most amazing part about LACIS is the team. All the staff at LACIS is energetic and passionate about their work and they take the time to connect with and help one another frequently. Even when working virtually, I felt I really got to know the other LACIS department staff and knew that I could always ask them for help or input.
What new skills have you picked up or refined working for LACIS that you can take with you to future employment opportunities?
I got very familiar with website upkeep and editing at LACIS which already helped me greatly in my summer internship where we are developing a new website. Additionally, I gained much better communication skills through my work with LACIS. Since I focused my work on the Summer Intensive Portuguese Institute (SIPI), I gained a lot of valuable practice communicating information between and across the Wisconsin Intensive Summer Language Institutes (WISLI) and LACIS.
Please tell us more about your upcoming internship/fellowship.
I am going to start a position as an Economic Research Assistant this fall where I will work on topics affecting the Wisconsin population as well as policy measures. Though I don’t know what specific topics I will be researching, my work will likely involve data input and analysis and writing.
What do you hope to do post-graduation?
Post-graduation, I hope to work in the field of environmental economics in Latin America. This would tie-in my economic studies and interest in the LACIS countries, incorporating much of what I learned as a LACIS intern.
Isabelle Johnson (LACIS’ Social Media and Communications Assistant)
What have you enjoyed most about working for LACIS?
I think I enjoyed the people most! Everyone is not only very enthusiastic and compassionate but also committed to their work. Additionally, I loved being given a great deal of independence with my responsibilities, it made me feel like my position and the work I was doing were meaningful. It’s been rewarding to work with such a great department and I’m certainly going to miss it.
What new skills have you picked up or refined working for LACIS that you can take with you to future employment opportunities?
Digital marketing! Prior to working with LACIS, I had a more limited understanding of popular platforms used to reach audiences and have since strengthened a lot of my skills related to social media outreach and organization. Now I feel like I can truly say I’m familiar with a lot of the responsibilities associated with communications positions and know that such skills will come in handy in my future work.
Please tell us more about your upcoming internship/fellowship.
Next semester I’ll be in Washington, DC with the Wisconsin in Washington program and will be interning with a non-profit! While I haven’t finalized my internship yet, I’m hoping to end up with an organization focused on foreign or economic policy research.
What do you hope to do post-graduation?
Post-graduation my ultimate hope is to go into a career where I can help people, as vague as that may be! Immediately after I’m hoping to take a year to work and then apply for a Fulbright Fellowship or maybe the Peace Corps.