Learning with Libra
This summer, three graduating seniors spent two months in the U.S., interning with the Libra Group, a multinational business with interests in shipping, aviation, real estate, hospitality, and energy, as well as a number of "diversified" businesses. Libra launched their internship program for university students in 2011 and this is the first time that Haitian students have had the opportunity to participate.
Nemdia DACENEY (economics ‘14) and Ginel DORLEON (computer science ‘14) interned at Libra’s headquarters in New York City, Ginel in the IT department and Nemdia working in support of Libra's many education initiatives. Elice ORESTE (industrial engineering ‘14) worked in the production department at Greenwood Energy in Green Bay, WI, which produces pellets from industrial waste to be used as a coal alternative. Greenwood tasked Elice with researching a proposal to reposition magnets on a main conveyor belt, and he was part of a Greenwood delegation that travelled to the University of Notre Dame in Indiana to test the pellets as a fuel source for the university’s electric power plant. “It was great spending time on the production floor and learning about all the different equipment,” he says. “I appreciated the opportunity to really get my hands dirty with this new technology.” At the end of his internship, Elice travelled to Minnesota to meet with Haiti Reconstruction International, a non-profit he worked with to install solar-powered water pumps in Elice’s remote hometown in southern Haiti, where people often had to make an hour long round-trip journey to get water.
After working on a variety of tasks, including inventory management, network configuration, and vendor research with the IT Systems Administration team, Ginel says, “My internship has been all about learning. My supervisors asked me to compile a list of new things that I wanted to master with them, which I really appreciated. The internship has been like another school for me, a really instructive experience.”
Nemdia, in her role assisting with PR and communications for the Libra Internship Program, had the opportunity to represent Libra, Haiti, and HELP at several events, including a gala put on by the Happy Hearts Foundation, which works in primary education in Haiti. “Paradoxically, it was in the U.S. that I had the chance to some of Haiti’s most important political figures!” says Nemdia. In addition to President Martelly and Prime Minister Lamothe, she says, “I was introduced to the Minister of Economy and Finance, Marie Carmelle Jean-Marie, who is one of my great role models.”
Many thanks to Libra for making these opportunities possible for HELP students!