Juan Zea Esteban and Young Cho, our immigration interns this fall season, contributed over 350 hours during their three months of service!
Outside of regular office work, Juan and Young were huge assets to an extremely busy Immigration Services department. They translated immigration documents, helped with the Central American Minors – Affidavit of Relationship (CAM-AOR) program and kept positive energy flowing during the rush.
Young is a recent law school graduate and was interested in immigration law. Specifically, she was interested in serving refugees and low-income immigrants, so when she found New American Pathways, she knew it was the right fit.
Juan, however, found us in a less traditional way – through our annual Every Day Should be Saturday (EDSBS) sports blog fundraiser. Juan is also interested in serving refugees and immigrants. As a former immigrant himself who went through the process without much assistance, Juan wants to ensure that “options for refugees and immigrants are made more accessible.”
When asked about their most memorable moments, both Juan and Young mentioned the diversity in the office. Working in such a diverse environment is a unique privilege at New American Pathways. Hearing a plethora of languages during walk-in hours is an experience in itself, they reported. Young said that she tried to “learn something new in every conversation” and that she began to value “being mindful of the words you say, and listen to other people from different backgrounds”.
Juan and Young both say the number one thing they got out of their internships is a taste of the unseen side of immigration services. Aside from buckets of paperwork, immigration is a vast field with all sorts of opportunities, if you know how to find them.
In just three months with New American Pathways, Juan and Young became members of the family. On his last day in office Juan said, “no one ever wants to leave what they call home nor loved ones.” Even after they leave, interns continue to make a huge impact on our work.
When considering how you’d like to serve with us – think about making a long-term impact as an intern! What better way to give back than to dedicate a few months to a service-intensive internship? As we say goodbye to our fall 2016 interns, we acknowledge and appreciate all they’ve done for us.