This is the next in a series of posts by recipients of the Career Services Summer Funding grant. We’ve asked funding recipients to reflect on their summer experiences and talk about the industries in which they’ve been spending the summer. You can read the entire series here.
This blog is by Jacqueline Heinrich, CAS ’15
Just as many International Relations majors, I have always dreamed of working in diplomacy, but I never counted on it becoming a reality. Especially in my area of focus, Europe and primarily France, diplomatic opportunities are very competitive. Regardless, also majoring in French at Penn and having studied abroad in Paris, I aspired to work in France in some capacity. Both dreams of working in diplomacy and in France were realized to their full extent through the State Department internship program
While abroad in Paris last fall, I applied to the State Department for a summer internship, voicing an interest in European affairs and public affairs. I was extremely fortunate to be offered an internship at the Embassy of the United States, Paris in the Press Office. The Press Office has many components and a hand in much of the embassy’s activities, as it is responsible for embassy’s media output and keeping track of the French media. I felt lucky to be a Press Office intern because I was able to be involved in and learn about the Press Office’s many roles and much of the embassy’s activities.
My days were made up of both consistent daily tasks and a changing variety of projects. Every morning I contributed to the Press Office’s daily media summary, which entailed reading France’s major newspapers, then translating and compiling their commentary on pertinent global and domestic issues into a summary that would be sent to other State Department bases.
Every afternoon was different and filled with varied tasks and projects. One of my biggest roles was helping the social media team with the embassy’s Twitter and Facebook accounts. This included outreach, in both French and English, on serious topics like events in the Ukraine and more light-hearted ones such as the World Cup. Learning to use social media as diplomatic tool was eye-opening and made me realize the impact and importance of public diplomacy. I also worked on projects that were more broadly associated with Public Affairs, since the Press Office falls under the Public Affairs section. Of these, I was most involved in Solar Decathlon Europe, part of which entailed organizing a day that showcased American culture, and commemorations for the centennial of World War I, which consisted of researching the US Embassy Paris during that time.
The Press Office is also involved in the media coverage of events and receptions held by the Embassy, so I often assisted, such as by filming or photographing them. Although I was working during them, these were also special opportunities to be in the presence of important invited guests and to experience embassy-hosted events and receptions, such as the embassy’s Fourth of July party.
Extraordinarily, the timing of my internship coincided with the 60th anniversary of D-Day, which brought President Obama and Secretary of State Kerry to France. Secretary Kerry also visited Paris another time during my internship to meet with Middle Eastern delegations. My main role during each visit was helping manage the press, but I also witnessed the greater work that went into them. Both visits were extremely exciting to be a part of and gave me a sense for the power of diplomacy, which really moved me. I was truly inspired by the work done by the US Embassy Paris during these exceptional circumstances, in addition to what it does on a daily basis.
My internship was an incredibly valuable experience as it opened my eyes to a career in the Foreign Service as well as other careers that overlap in characteristics. This experience taught what its like to work in a foreign city, to use a different language in the office, to work in communications and with the press, to use social media professionally, to work with the government, and most of all to work in diplomacy. While I loved the combination of all of these things and wish I could continue my internship forever, I now can identify areas in which I would like to work and characteristics of a job that I would like to have in the future. This experience has made me feel much more prepared to embark on finding a career that is impactful and that I am passionate about.
