“I’m from Ghana in West Africa and the first time I came to the U.S. was through a scholarship program for community colleges. It was a culture exchange program [with NWTC] so the whole idea is to exchange cultures. Afterward, it was required for us to go back home so I went home and applied to come back to complete my technical degree and I also thought about furthering my education. It’s just me and my sister at the moment. We lost both of our parents when we were younger and it was a terrible process for me. She’s way younger so she had a family member to take her in at the time.

“One of my passions is to one day have my own nonprofit. But first, I really want to work with a nonprofit that works with kids that have lost their parents or who don’t have family support. If I can’t start my own nonprofit, I just want to be in a position to help kids in that situation who don’t have a family member or any kind of external support to help them.

“I didn’t actually have SNC in mind originally. I just wanted to pursue my degree. I have a friend in the academic support office so she mentioned that it would be a great fit for me. I applied, got in and haven’t regretted that decision. My [current] internship here is through WAICU, Wisconsin Association of Independent Colleges and Universities.The internship is supposed to help educate a lot of people about what the advancement department is and also encourage more diversity in the advancement field. So far, I have enjoyed it because I’ve had three weeks with each department – major, annual and planned giving; stewardship and research; and alumni and community engagement. Now, I am in my three weeks with communications. It’s been amazing! The experiences and the projects are all different. The exposure is mind-blowing.

“I really want to go into nonprofit work. I think this is a really good door for me because it gives me the idea of how people are willing to help and support. I don’t know where life will take me next, but I know that this is a really great starting point for me.”