Issue link: http://ihouse.uberflip.com/i/705147
T he Robertson Center for Intercultural Leadership (CIL) offers educational programs for I-House residents, including the Intercultural Leadership Initiative (ILI), a semester-long certificate course in intercultural communication and leadership. Since its launch in 2012, ILI has trained over 100 I-House residents, providing them with the knowledge, attitudes, and skills needed to be effective global leaders. CIL's newest program leverages its success with ILI by offering an advanced opportunity for ILI graduates to train their peers at I-House. "Our goal was to provide a practical intercultural leadership experience for ILI graduates to learn how to design, plan, and facilitate a successful intercultural training, and reach higher numbers of residents with original programming," says Lauren Moloney-Egnatios, Intercultural Training Specialist. CIL Director Jason Patent declared the pilot a great success and is excited to continue offering the internships to residents with an advanced level of intercultural training and interest in intercultural education. "is train-the-trainer program allows us to do much more than we'd been able to do before," says Jason. "We are meeting residents where they are developmentally, and helping them understand how they fit into a larger global and intercultural context." Five interns participated in the pilot program and reached nearly 150 of their fellow residents in one semester. e programs that the interns planned ranged in format and covered many topics. ey included a self-evaluation of unconscious biases during a historical tour of San Francisco's Tenderloin neighborhood; a dining experience exploring the roles of guest and host around the world; and an evening of residents sharing their intercultural stories by using just 20 slides and only 20 seconds per slide. "I feel more comfortable talking with future employers in interviews about the skills I learned in ILI by using specific examples from the CIL internship," says Hayley McVicar. Hayley assisted CIL with a new career development workshop aimed at helping residents translate their I-House experience into valuable transferable skills, and providing strategies for effective resumes and job interviews appropriate to professional culture in the United States. e internship program also complemented the work of the I-House Program Office, which creates opportunities for residents to foster intercultural friendships and fun through events, trips, and activities, and build meaningful connections between I-House and its wider community. "ese internships are great examples of how CIL's expertise enriches the programs we regularly offer residents by deepening the learning," says Kimi Mojica, I-House Student Engagement Officer. "While only one program out of many, the new internship program is a great example of how lessons learned under the dome can continue to have a lasting impact on residents: professionally, academically, and personally," says Jason. "CIL is starting to bring its work to external organizations — nonprofits, universities, and corporations — in order to prepare people to lead in an ever-more-diverse world, and to spread I-House's mission to promote a more peaceful world." n New Professional Internship Program Robertson Center for Intercultural Leadership 8 International House Times Joshua Yang, who designed a PRIDE event to explore LGBTQ culture and community.