Victoria Anderson, a criminal justice major, spent her internship semester working with Entrena, in the Dominican Republic. Entrena has a mission to generate positive, sustainable change in individuals, communities, organizations, and countries through learning, training, and empowerment experiences. Entrena hosts international interns as a way to spread awareness of the social injustices happening in the Dominican Republic and educate more privileged populations in the United States and Europe about the process of international program development and management through partnerships with local organizations. During her internship, Victoria participated in weekly workshops about child marriage, domestic violence, child abuse, gender roles and health in the Dominican Republic. She also translated various legal and criminal justice documents from Spanish to English, making them more accessible to the world beyond the Caribbean and South America. Victoria said, “I feel so lucky to have had the opportunity of finishing my undergraduate career with Entrena. My professionalism, Spanish skills and passion have grown exponentially throughout this internship in Entrena's child marriage and domestic violence initiative, and I believe I'm walking out of this experience with a clear idea of the work that needs to be done with those issues around the world. I encourage criminal justice students who are interested in at-risk youth and international development to look into an internship with Entrena. I am thankful for the preparation I received for this internship from the mentors and educators in the AppState Government and Justice Studies Department!”
