On October 3, CCIP kicked off its 2019 summer internship registration at Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). The event drew great attendance, with 2016 alumni Jonathan, Serena and Owen joining to share insights with the group. Along with 2016 alumni Lauren, they participated in student interviews.

Serena, who interned in US Congresswoman Grace Meng’s office, shared her experience. "I appreciated my American hosts. They allowed room for interns to learn from mistakes. At the beginning I made a serious error -- giving incorrect information to a constituent. I ended up calling the constituent, asking her to come back, and admitting my mistakes to the constituent and my supervisor. I can imagine many in that situation would point fingers, but I chose to really fix the error and accept responsibility. I was praised by my boss and the incident set the tone for me to improve throughout the rest of the internship.”

While many interns attending the program for seven weeks can lose motivation after the first month, Serena stayed focused through the full 12 weeks. For her, the longer duration added special value to her experience. “When new interns arrived I helped guide them. I felt especially accomplished when I looked at them – I was in their position a few short weeks ago, but the extra time really made a difference."

Jonathan interned directly for Elizabeth Kay, CCIP’s responsible officer and info session host. "I learned a lot in my internship, especially how important people skills and professional relationships are in real life."

The info talk at CUHK kicks off two weeks for CCIP in Hong Kong, followed by Singapore on October 15-17 and Macau October 19-20.