One day, Chloe Ma ’17 hopes to start her own international non-governmental organization. This summer she gained valuable experience toward that goal. With funding from the Summer Internship Support Fund, she worked as the summer operations intern at Global Nomads Group, a non-profit organization that uses technology to foster cultural exchange between youth all around the world. The internship helped her to develop important practical skills and provided insight into the behind-the-scenes operations of a non-profit organization.
Global Nomads Group (GNG) is a small, international non-profit that works to build a sense of global citizenship among the world’s youth. They use technology such as webinars to connect children and teenagers around the world. The group’s goal is to foster international dialogue and understanding. Ma explains, “GNG deeply believes that virtual exchanges can promote empathy, peace and build 21st century workforce skills. The future of the world depends on us, the next generation.”
Read more stories about students who are Ma considers GNG to be the perfect match for her interests and personal experiences, commenting “I have always considered myself as a global nomad.” Ma was born and raised in China and then attended high school in Southern California. At Hamilton, she is a world politics and French double major, and she will be studying abroad in Paris for all of next year. Ma has always been passionate about engaged citizenship and service. During her past two years at Hamilton, she worked as a service intern at the Community Outreach and Opportunity Project (COOP). She worked first with the Rome Art and Community Center and then with the Mohawk Valley Resource Center for Refugees. She credits these experiences with preparing her to work with GNG.
As the summer operations intern at GNG, Ma worked on a number of different projects. Each day she posted job positions, filed documents, and processed payroll information. Her biggest projects were creating a new annual employee performance review and updating GNG’s Operations Department manual. Before her internship, Ma had little background with human resources management or finances, so these were new experiences for her.
She said she had to start everything from scratch. In order to complete the employee performance review, she conducted extensive research and surveys and then designed a completely new review. By the end of the summer, watching GNG’s employees using the review she had created was the most rewarding part of her internship.
At GNG, Ma was grateful to work with people who share her passion for global citizenship. She noted, “I am fortunate enough to work with people who care about the world deeply, and are passionate about spreading the notion of global citizenship to youth around the world.” Ma was also grateful to learn so much about how to operate a non-profit organization and is likely to put her new skills to use in the near future.
After graduating, Ma hopes to eventually attend graduate school for an MBA or MPA (Master of Public Administration). She plans to work for an international NGO and hopes that she might even start her own one day. With the experience she has gained from her internship Ma is well-positioned to make a big difference in the world.
