Taylor Harley
Freshman, planning to study behavioral neuroscience
Participating in a summer internship in Zambia

I am currently working in the consular section of the U.S. Embassy in Lusaka, Zambia, where officials deal with visa requests and other U.S. citizen-related issues including passports, social security and birth certificates. (My mother works for the U.S. State Department, and I have previously worked in the consular section of the U.S. Embassy in Amman, Jordan.) The work here in Zambia is quite interesting, and it allows me to utilize several skill sets. My plan is to pursue a career in medicine, and this job will help me hone critical skills such as organization, time management and communication.

Though I used to live in Morocco, this part of Africa is new to me and I am already hoping to arrange a co-op here next summer with the Centers for Disease Control, the U.S. Agency for International Development, Red Cross or Peace Corps. Not only are these opportunities related to medicine, but they also offer me the chance to again work overseas — particularly in a part of the world that is often overlooked, and where there are real health problems to be worked on. We may talk about these problems a lot, but a co-op like this would allow me to return here and actually try to address them.

I initially was attracted to Northeastern because of access to global experiences, as well as its diverse campus. In particular, I think the global experiences that I’ve already had and hope to continue having at Northeastern will help me become a more well-rounded person — someone who is acutely aware of the world and always learning about new cultures, international and political issues, languages and global problems. Even though I want to go into medicine, I hope to take all of this knowledge and use it on an international level as much as I can.