UW students become ambassadors to the world through AIESEC

In a time of constant reminders of the need to learn about developing countries and cooperate globally, members of the University of Wisconsin–Madison chapter of AIESEC – the largest student-based organization on the planet – have become ambassadors to the world.

Through encouraging its members to step outside of their comfort zones by living and working in the Middle East and North Africa, among other regions, AIESEC Madison is encouraging an exchange of knowledge, potential and curiosity that is essential in today’s increasingly globalized world.

“AIESEC gives students the opportunity to know their global neighbors,” says Lynn Parins, a senior from Green Bay who spent a summer in Morocco through the organization. “Knowledge is power, and knowledge comes through understanding. Power in AIESEC is found not in control or domination, but in cooperation.”

As one of the leading chapters in the nation, AIESEC Madison, in collaboration with its parent organization, is working on a new initiative for 2007 called the Salaam Program, focused on exchanging members across the perceived divide between the United States and four countries in the Middle East and North Africa: Tunisia, Morocco, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, with continued program development in Bahrain and Qatar and future plans to expand into Oman.

Also working to increase awareness of Middle Eastern culture in Madison, this subgroup hosts a number of events, like an upcoming panel discussion of the challenges current members of the Madison community faced when leaving their homes in the Middle East to come to the United States. This event will be held on Monday, Feb. 5 at 7 p.m. in the Memorial Union.

The Madison chapter exemplifies the mission of AIESEC (pronounced “eye-sek”), to increase cultural awareness and international understanding through the exchange of members from chapter to chapter around the world. AIESEC is a French acronym for the “International Association of Students in Economic and Commercial Sciences.”

To date, almost half of the 60 current members in Madison have lived in any of 90 different countries around the world from two months to two years of their college careers; eleven more are planning to go abroad through AIESEC this summer.

“AIESEC Madison is continually a leader in achieving the mission of the organization in the United States,” says Sara Sadek, the President of AIESEC Madison. “Not only do we hold events to raise awareness on campus, work with businesses around Madison to create opportunities and network with other chapters around the U.S., but we continually bring in AIESEC members from around the world to do specialized work in the Madison area.”

AIESEC was started after World War II to bring the world together and bridge cultural gaps between people of different countries. The first exchange of individuals was between France and Germany in 1948. Now, AIESEC hosts more than 4,000 opportunities each year to send students to almost any country around the world where the organization has a chapter. In 2007 alone, more than 700 American students will have the opportunity to work abroad through the organization.

Parins says the experience helped him develop a personal network on an international scale. “I lived with Moroccans, made them some of my best friends, and left a piece of myself behind while everything I took with me was changed forever. I walked away more confident [that] we really do have a chance to change things for the better in this world.”

This is very different from studying abroad, the members assert. Because AIESEC is student-run, there is an incredible support network from chapter to chapter. Students around the world raise the traineeships through sales calls and cooperation with local businesses or multinational corporations with headquarters in the region. These internships are typically in areas like business, information technology, developmental work and teaching English. In the United States, AIESEC welcomes trainees to work for large companies like Price Waterhouse Coopers, as well as more local enterprises.

“Without the AIESEC network, I would never have experienced Ugandan culture to such the depth that I did,” says Adam Lichtenheld, an AIESEC Madison member from Prairie du Sac. “I never would have traveled around the country, slept outside in a rural farm, attended a traditional wedding ceremony, participated in ritualistic drum circles or attended the Ugandan Music Awards without those who I connected with through the AIESEC bond.”

Not only does AIESEC offer the opportunity for members to live and work almost anywhere in the world, the organization also strives to nurture members as leaders, focusing on collaboration and leadership development through personal experience.

“The whole experience of working abroad through AIESEC was a testament to the power of cultural exchange and how you grow as a person through it,” says Kaitlin Jentzen, an AIESEC Madison member who spent time in Egypt. “Everyone asked me when I returned, ‘How was Egypt?’ And what do you really say to someone when you know words cannot explain all that you learned and saw? AIESEC has allowed me to go through a trying experience that taught me the concept of strength. In no other circumstance would I have grown personally, intellectually, and emotionally as I did there.”

AIESEC Madison is currently accepting applications for membership.