Costa Rica: Eva Whitney

Program: Go Tico! Costa Rica Marketing & Community Outreach Intern, Summer

To explore international internship options available to UW-Madison undergraduate students, visit the Intern Abroad webpage or meet with an Intern Abroad advisor.

Eva’s Majors: Spanish, Statistics

What is the moment you are most proud of?

I am most proud of my contributions to my program’s community literacy project. I put together boxes of books to circulate through local schools in a ‘mobile library,’ participated in storytelling in the schools, and recruited moms from the schools to carry on the storytelling project after the other intern and I left.

What challenges or barriers did you face during your time abroad? How did you work through them?

Since La Flor is so isolated, the environment was challenging because there are not many social outlets especially compared to Madison’s busy college environment. That being said, it seemed that Costa Rica has an incredibly friendly, welcoming culture, so everyone was more than happy to talk if you initiated a conversation. Ultimately, I overcame the social isolation by getting comfortable forming a community with people very different from myself—people of different ages, from very different upbringings, who spoke no English.

How will your experience benefit you in the future? How might it affect your future career or studies?

Interning at ¡Go Tico! over the summer exposed me to new potential career paths. While I was initially planning to pursue a career related to statistics, since this was one of my majors in college, my time at ¡Go Tico! exposed me to roles in communications and teaching that made me consider these avenues for my future. In fact, I am currently applying for jobs in communications and English teaching assistant positions for 2025. Ultimately, seeing the impact I could have on the community through teaching and communications inspired me to explore these career paths further.