Past Participants

A woman with shoulder-length brown hair, glasses, and tattoos on her right arm, sitting at a round wooden table with a smartphone in front of her. She is wearing a beige buttoned shirt over a black top, and smiling at the camera. The background shows a well-lit room with chairs and a painting on the wall.

Nola

Home Country: Essen, German

Work Placement: WVU Center for Community Engagement

Nola is back home working with young people who are doing a voluntary year. She was excited to be here and learn more about West Virginia and American society.

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Melina

Home Country: Cologne, Germany

Work Placement: MonDefenders

Melina is back home working at a psychiatric clinic for adolescent substance abuse. She’s passionate about traveling, scenic views, and cooking. She was excited to create memorable experience in WV!

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Christoph

Home Country: Leipzig, Germany

Work Placement: Children’s Home Society

Christoph works as a social working in the department for youth and families in Leipzig; his job involves the coordination of the youth welfare system and child protection work. He spends his free time engaged in sports, gardening, beekeeping, and being active outside. Christoph’s hope for the program was to gain insight into the American welfare system and to help develop his own professional skills.

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Nicole Ibler

Home Country: Germany

Occupation: Teacher

Work Placement: WVU School of Nursery

“I saw this and thought ‘that’s the right program for me’, because the United States is very interesting, and it has good teachers. I am really excited that I’m here and I’m looking forward to the rest of my program.”

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Estefania Lopez

Home Country: Mexico

Occupation: Entrepreneur

Work Placement: WVU LaunchLab

“I want my business to be more automatized. It’s working in an old way now, like ‘send me your email, send me your order’. I want to make it more efficient, maybe an app to make it easier for my clients. I’d like to develop more of my business while I’m here.”

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Omowunmi Olabode

Home Country: Nigeria

Occupation: Psychiatric nurse

Work Placement: WVU School of Medicine

“I joined because I still need to learn, to improve my professional skills, to see how other cultures view mental health, to learn their perspectives, and to then go back home to be a culturally competent nurse.”

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Luisa Gabriela Espinoza Rosales

Home Country: Bolivia

Occupation: Industrial Engineer

Work Placement: WVU School of Engineering

“I have communication difficulties with suppliers, such as emails taking me a long time to write if they’re not in Spanish. My main objective through this program is to improve my professional English.”

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Rafael Vial

Home Country: Brazil

Occupation: Architect

Work Placement: Morgantown City Planning Board

“We have the bachelor’s degree in Brazil for architect and urban planning, but it’s really difficult to find a field close to urban planning, and that’s a field I love to work in. I want to get enough experience here around transportation and planning to get back to Brazil and do my master’s thesis.”

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Sina Vogt

Home Country: Germany

Occupation: Social worker

Work Placement: Morgantown Area Youth Services Project

“I want to learn about how other cultures are dealing with the same things we are at home because we have a totally different social system in Germany than the United States.”

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Frederike Weidemann

Home Country: Germany

Occupation: School social worker

Work Placement: Human Resource Development Foundation

“I hope that I can get new ideas here for my job in Germany so I can enjoy my job in a different way; with new impressions and more confidence in working with international pupils.”

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Johnson Ademola Idowu

Home Country: Nigeria 

Occupation: Lecturer of Lagos, State University Sandwich Program

Placement: Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design

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Teresa Knebel

Home Country: Germany

Occupation: Social Worker

"I wanted to join to gain intercultural experiences to help understand how the social welfare system in the U.S. is working, and have the opportunity to do exchanges with the professionals here to learn the differences and similarities between our two countries systems."

"I've been in this job for 6 years and I understood the German welfare system, but I thought there would be differences in other countries and wanted to understand why they do it how they do, and not like in Germany. All my colleagues are waiting and excited to hear what I have learned, so it won't only be me who will get the chance to understand this system."

"Eventually I would love to work abroad, potentially in the U.S."

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Gabriela Simioni Prants

Home Country: Brazil

Occupation: Agronomist

“I always wanted to go abroad for my schooling, but it was hard to get the opportunity. So when I learned about the program I was so excited and I put all my energy into getting accepted. I am currently pursuing my Masters degree in Brazil, and this program is giving me an opportunity to match my work here and improve my skills."

"I am an agronomist in Brazil, and I work with the genetics of tomatoes, specifically their trichomes. Here I will be doing my research on the tomato plants IV trichome and learning new techniques with molecular biology. The IV trichome helps repel insects, so my goal is to uncover the mysteries of developing that trichome so we can create a plant this is resistant against bug attacks.”

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