Full Name: Bronwen Schriml
1) What major(s), minors, and/or
certificates you are working on at UMD?
Majors:
Geographical Sciences and Government & Politics
2) What are your interests within
your program(s)?
Geographical
Sciences – Human Geography and International Development, Government &
Politics – International Relations
3) What previous jobs, internships,
and volunteer experience have you had?
My
previous internships include the Mayor of Chicago Federal Affairs Office,
Frederick County Circuit Court Head Administrative Judge G. Edward Dwyer Jr.,
and Maryland General Assembly Page Program. I have been volunteering with
Special Olympics since the age of six, specifically volunteering at the annual
Polar Bear Plunge and Summer Games.
4) Where you are from (optional)?
Born
in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada but raised in Frederick, MD, USA.
Internship:
1) Where you are interning?
Embassy
of Canada, Permanent Mission of Canada to the Organization of American States.
2) What are your internship
responsibilities?
My
main task while working at the Mission this past summer was to attend and
report on meetings. As an
intern I attended OAS committee meetings, permanent council sessions, and think
tank events that pertain to Latin America, the Caribbean, South America, and
Canada. For the meetings and think tank events I wrote reports to be circulated
within our mission and Ottawa related offices. My Inter-American Congress on
Tourism report was circulated to Industry Canada. Often I would collaborate
with officers in my office and other interns in the Embassy if the topic had
wide interest. Other tasks I performed included composing week in previews for
upcoming events, hosting diplomats and representatives from the OAS, and
creating a networking event for the other interns at the Embassy.
3) What project(s) are you working
on or contributing to?
I
assisted my office’s development officers prepare for the annual Pan-American
Health Organization conference and research previous resolutions to prepare for
the meeting. Major issues I have covered this summer include the Trans-Pacific Partnership,
Trade Promotion Authority, the Dominican Republic - Haiti border migration dispute,
the possible violation of human rights occurring in the Dominican Republic, and
the Guatemalan corruption scandal. I was also fortunate to be a part of the
Canadian Delegation (as pictured above) to this year’s General Assembly which
was held at OAS headquarters in Washington D.C. I was tasked with attending
major sessions and taking notes to send to the officers and our Representative,
Minister of State Lynne Yelich, throughout the conference.
4) How is the internship experience
relevant to your studies in Geographical Sciences?
My internship experience was
relevant to my Studies in Geographical Sciences because of the subjects I
covered in the reports I wrote and were discussed in meetings I was able to
attend at the OAS and various think tank events. My focus within my major of
Geographical Sciences is sustainability and development, the more human
geography focused specialty of the major. Additionally, two of the pillars of
the OAS are development and human rights. I was able to research and analyze
old reports, meeting sessions, and attend a multitude of think tank events on
the development of Latin America, the Caribbean, South America, and the specific
countries of Colombia and Brazil. I was able to directly apply the terminology,
theories, and concepts I have learned thus far to the subject I was working on.
5) What are your career goals after
you graduate?
After I graduate, I plan to attend
graduate school for a masters or PhD in Human Geography. My career goals are to
work in the field of international development and diplomacy, either through
the Canadian Foreign Service or U.S. State Department.
