Gustavus-Adolphus Student Shane Ellanson Speaks on His Experience at the ICRD

Shane with his supervisors at the International Center for Religion and Diplomacy offices.

Shane Ellanson, a Political Science major from Gustavus-Adolphus College, is finishing up his senior year with an internship in DC at the International Center for Religion and Diplomacy (ICRD). We stopped by his internship site a month into the term to see how he was getting along. Here’s what he talked about:

“ICRD, [my internship site], is a peacebuilding NGO that focuses on the positive role that religious actors can play in preventing and mitigating conflict. We are not a religious organization, but we recognize the importance of religion. This organization is part think tank and part community work, meaning that we support our statistical research with on-the-ground work.

In my one month at ICRD I have helped with budgeting and research to support current projects. This consists of news briefs for the staff so that they can stay up to date with current events happening in their project countries as well as other necessary work like transcribing interviews and attending relevant events put on by other organizations. I also have been tasked with work for potential future projects. This work has allowed me the freedom of more creativity by allowing me to plan activities for future trainings of religious leaders and drafting concept notes for issues within countries focused on by ICRD without direct oversight by a staff member, until I am finished.

My favorite part of interning here has been the workplace environment. Everyone at ICRD has been so welcoming and willing to let interns help them with their work, as well as being happy to answer questions and explain to us how to improve with each individual project. I am most proud of the fact that one of the concept notes that I drafted has made it through editing by the program director with minimal revisions and is now awaiting editing by the President and VP of the organization before the Letter of Intent can be drafted to seek funding.”

“This internship has allowed me to understand how I can translate my education from college into the workplace. I have learned the process required for acquiring grants, planning future projects, how to set up and manage budgets, as well as the kind of work required to support current projects. This kind of real-world experience has made me feel much more prepared for the work force than any other single semester of college.”

Lastly, we asked him about his biggest misconception about DC before coming here:

“One misconception I had about coming to DC was that it was a big city. In reality it is a town with a lot of amazing, intelligent, and important people, but feels much smaller than other big cities in the U.S. and is much more easily traversed.”