First off, I am extremely proud to know that I am a part of a legacy that has helped give children books, school supplies, and hopefully a positive outlook on the future. I only want to continue that legacy and the friendship that Elon has with those organizations in South Africa. I cannot wait to go to the school and play soccer with the kids and truly see what their daily life is. I went to an amazing public school in New Jersey and while it was not an expensive private school with the best technology, we had almost everything we could ask for. I know I will be moved by seeing the differences in schooling and I will want to help students, especially those who love every moment of school the way I do (with hopes of going to medical school I have to love school to go for an extra, well, forever).
However, my goal is to intern with some sort of clinic or organization that deals with HIV/AIDS. After looking through the places that we can possibly internship, I found the Medical Research Council the most interesting. They have an ongoing program call the SAAVI (The South Africa AIDS Vaccine Initiative). It was started in 1999, meaning it has been up and running for ten years. I am curious to learn about their progress and where their future research is going. I would also like to learn about their prevention plans and if they do any proactive work in the community to stop the spread of AIDS. Elon’s campus has the SPARKS program as well as free condoms in the health center to promote safe sex and it would be interesting to compare the different programs. I hope to learn some new things from them, especially if it relates to the medical part of treating AIDS, and to give them some insight from what I have experience through our programs in the United States. I want to form a friendship that would hopefully turn into a research question or an internship with the organization. I do not want to visit the country for three and a half weeks and then leave it as just a memory. I want to make an impact in the town that we travel to, like Cape Town, and want to go back many times in the future to visit our new friends. One of my career goals is to do medical work, whether it is as a travelling doctor or research, in Africa. I am excited to be able to get a glimpse of what that might be like.