The Washington Group funds intern at Embassy of Ukraine (09/07/97)

The Washington Group funds intern at Embassy of Ukraine

by Yaro Bihun

WASHINGTON - While many of her fellow college students spent the summer vacationing or working odd jobs to earn money for next year's college tuition, Alexandra (Lesya) Richardson worked in the press and cultural section of the Embassy of Ukraine in Washington.

Ms. Richardson, who will be a senior majoring in history and political science at Marquette University in Milwaukee this fall, was the second Ukrainian Embassy summer intern funded by The Washington Group, an association of Ukrainian American professionals.

Her daily duties included assisting the press section employees gather relevant information from major U.S. newspapers and the Internet to keep the Embassy's diplomats informed about latest developments, translating from the English and Ukrainian and working on special projects.

Among the documents Ms. Richardson translated were letters between President Leonid Kuchma and President Bill Clinton on the occasion of their countries' independence days; she wrote press releases on developments in Ukraine, helped publish two of the Embassy's monthly newsletters, and researched data and helped the staff prepared an updated Embassy brochure about Ukraine. She also worked on preparing the Embassy's World Wide Web home page, a project that is still in progress.

"The most rewarding, certainly, was the experience that I would have never had in a university setting or even on my own - translating and improving my Ukrainian language to such a degree that I never would have had the opportunity unless I went to Ukraine to work," Ms. Richardson said in an interview.

"Also rewarding was getting some personal insight into the way the Ukrainian political system works, especially in America," she said. "They're under pressure, and they're performing excellently. Everybody is very efficient, very hard working."

The TWG Ukrainian Embassy internship was not her first Washington experience. Ms. Richardson spent the fall semester of her junior year as an intern in the office of U.S. Rep. Gerald Kleczka (D-Wis.), her congressman from Milwaukee. It was part of her Marquette University program, in conjunction with the Les Aspin Center for Government.

She didn't get to do any Ukraine-related work in Rep. Kleczka's office, she admitted, since his work centered on the Ways and Means Committee and Health Subcommittee. "He did get The Ukrainian Weekly, though," she added. The Ukrainian Weekly was the source from which she learned about the TWG/Ukrainian Embassy internship program for which she applied and was accepted.

In addition to her Washington internships, Ms. Richardson also participated in a high school student exchange program and an environmental internship in Ukraine.

She spent her high school junior year in 1992-1993 on a Rotary International student exchange program in Lviv, studying at High School No. 4 and living with a local family.

She returned to Lviv for two months in the summer of 1995 as an intern at the Environmental Public Advocacy Center, an American Bar Association-funded project, helping with writing, translating and organizing conferences..

Born in Little Rock, Ark., Mr. Richardson's family moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, when she was 6, when her father got a position at Marquette University there. Her Ukrainian American life, developed during weekend trips to Chicago (for Saturday school, Plast, etc.), where her mother had grown up and where many of her relatives live.

Summing up her Washington and Ukrainian experiences, Ms. Richardson said, "Everything I've been lucky enough to do has been exciting." The embassy internship, however, was special. "Just the thought of working in an embassy, and the more so in Ukrainian. Because that's my roots, my background, it means more to me."

Ms. Richardson said she does not have any concrete, long-range plans for her own future yet, but she hopes that it will include returning to Washington.

"I wouldn't mind entering politics," she said. "Truthfully, I did get the Washington bug up on the Hill. It's just so exciting. I really enjoyed it there."

She added that she would recommend the TWG Ukrainian Embassy internship to anybody who is interested in politics, in working with Ukraine and in learning about Ukrainian politics.

The intern must have a good grasp of Ukrainian and English and be skilled in working with computers, she said. "They have a very high-tech system here," she pointed out, and they depend on it for gathering and disseminating information quickly.

One also needs to be patient, she noted, "because it does get stressful; the work load does get heavy ... and it's definitely more than a nine-to-five job."

Commenting on his organization's program, which includes a $1,500 stipend for the intern, TWG President George Masiuk said the embassy internship is beneficial for all involved: "It promotes good will between the Ukrainian American community and the Ukrainian Embassy, provides the Embassy with competent and much-needed help, and provides the intern with the opportunity to gain valuable experience."

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