
Ava-Celeste is majoring in African Studies at Smith College and is expected to graduate with her bachelor’s degree in May 2021. She joined the VACorps program in August 2020 as a remote intern and participated in an internship at an NGO that provides educational support to underprivileged children in Cape Town.
“After the COVID-19 hit the globe, I was worried I would not be able to have an experience out of the United States. I loved the community of people that I met through both VACorps and my internship site. I loved learning about South African culture from Buddy Chats with Kuselwa and Kholi.
I hope to keep in contact with both VACorps and my internship site, as I hope to visit South Africa one day in the future. I really enjoyed the projects I was given because they afforded me the opportunity to learn and develop a new skill. I never had to create an informational brochure or a workbook before, but I am glad I got the opportunity to do so.”
Meet our most recent VACorps program alumni:
Chris Doe, Massachussets, USA (2023)
Chris joined the VACorps program in January 2023 as part of his Gap year and participated in a human rights internship. I decided to come to Cape Town to do an internship because I […]
Nico Theunissen, New York, USA (2023)
Nico joined the VACorps Program in January 2023 as part of his Gap year and participated in an internship at a clean energy engineering company. “Living in New York City, coming to Cape Town […]
Derya Tunçaral, Istanbul, Turkey (2023)
Derya is a recent graduate of Istanbul Bilgi University where he earned his bachelor’s in International Relations. He joined the VACorps program in November 2022 and participated in a political science internship. “It was […]
Isabelle Ryan, Illinois, USA (2023)
Isabelle joined the VACorps Program in January 2023 as part of her Gap year and participated in a business internship. “Originally, I was nervous about coming to Cape Town. I had never been so […]
Alize Serez, Istanbul, Turkey, (2023)
Aliza has recently earned a bachelor’s degree in International Relations from Istanbul Bilgi University. She joined the VACorps Program in September 2022 and participated in a Political Science Internship. “The reason I chose Cape […]
Carley Adams, Ontario, Canada, (2023)
Carley is a recent MSc graduate of the University of Edinburgh, specializing in Medical Anthropology. She joined the VACorps Program in January 2023 and participated in a public health internship. “Cape Town is such […]