As a teenager in Half Moon Bay, California, George Washington University rising junior Callie Hoffman helped distribute meals with a local nonprofit that had partnered with World Central Kitchen.
This summer, she’s on the other side of the supply chain, working as a relief intern supporting logistics and disaster response at World Central Kitchen’s warehouse as part of GW’s Humanitarian Internship Program Pilot (HIPP). This newly launched 10-week professional internship opportunity allows students to contribute to global and local humanitarian efforts.
HIPP is one of a number of projects supported this year by the President’s Fund for Excellence (PFFE)—a discretionary fund that enables GW President Ellen M. Granberg to direct funds where they have the maximum impact. As part of the program, students are paid a stipend from the university, made possible through the generosity of donors, to pursue these humanitarian-based positions.
For Hoffman, it’s a full-circle experience that’s deepened her understanding of what it takes to respond to crisis, affirming her lifelong passion for global service. Her duties have included leading a project creating disaster reference guides to speed up future response times and helping with logistics, such as inventory, supply lists and organizing equipment.
“It’s been so valuable to understand that side of things,” said Hoffman, who volunteered at various nonprofits and organizations in California for as long as she can remember before pursuing a degree in human services and social justice at GW. She joked that she also now knows how to use a pallet jack and a screwdriver.
“Now I see how much work happens behind the scenes. Thanks to HIPP, I understand what it really takes to make a difference.”
That’s the exact reason the program was created: to enable GW students to partner with leading organizations to address critical challenges across the humanitarian sector.
HIPP has supported Hoffman and 19 other students—both graduate and undergraduate—by matching them with an internship based on their skills, interests and career aspirations. In addition to covering full-time internship funding, the program builds a peer cohort and includes biweekly training and reflection sessions designed to deepen learning and foster community.
The President’s Fund for Excellence, which supported HIPP in its inaugural year, reflects a bold investment in GW’s commitment to educate and cultivate leaders by enhancing the student experience and investing in real-world learning. Other initiatives supported by the fund include the Tanya Vogel Endowed Scholarship which provides scholarships for GW student athletes, and a commitment to matching funds that doubled the impact of gifts to student organizations.
“Through the Humanitarian Internship Program Pilot, GW is investing in the power of real-world learning to prepare students to lead with empathy, resilience and purpose,” said President Ellen M. Granberg. “This program elevates the internship experience to empower students from every discipline to contribute to meaningful change, both locally and globally. I’m deeply proud of what our students are accomplishing, and I’m grateful to our donors for helping create this only-at-GW opportunity.”
HIPP deliberately draws students from across disciplines as this summer’s interns include aspiring data scientists, journalists, business students and engineers, among others.
“There’s a role for everyone’s skill set in humanitarian work,” said Associate Vice Provost for Career Services Kelley Bishop. “Students are discovering how much they need each other’s perspectives.”
New media photojournalism graduate student Ran Feng, for instance, is working with Engineers Without Borders as a social media and storytelling intern. She has helped design new video materials, built social campaigns and learned project planning through international partnerships.
While her background isn’t in engineering, she learned from the nonprofit organization that it needs people who can connect emotionally and communicate the human side of this technical work. Through previous professional experience editing news in China and starting a documentary segment focused on marginalized voices—specifically people with HIV, disabilities and living in poverty—Feng found that visual storytelling has great power in shaping societal change.
“It’s been very hands-on and practical—really preparing us for real-world working environments,” Feng said.
She is grateful for HIPP’s support, which confirmed her leap of faith to move across the world to attend school at GW.
“On a bigger level, I think it’s significant that GW continues to support programs like this,” Feng said. “It’s a big step, especially for international students like me. I really feel like I made the right decision to come to GW.”
Milken Institute School of Public Health graduate student Philip Yamoah Appiah has found a niche fit in the program for his data science skills. He is spending his summer with Project HOPE as a monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) database and systems intern. In this role, he is helping define program indicators across global health initiatives and has learned how to use open-source data platforms to support efforts that range from maternal health and infectious disease to mental health in high-need communities.
For Appiah, who previously worked on large-scale health and sanitation projects in his native Ghana, the opportunity to apply his skills in a global humanitarian context has been transformative.
“This experience is something I can’t quantify,” he said. “HIPP gave me the chance to really understand what’s happening in the humanitarian world—not just by reading about it but by living it.”
He credits HIPP with opening doors that he otherwise may not have even found. “From the beginning, GW made us feel like our work mattered,” he said.
Overall, HIPP has been a mutually beneficial program. Students are able to pursue these internships without a financial burden as many humanitarian internships are unpaid or underpaid, while the organizations themselves gain talented interns without bearing the costs.
Bishop credits Granberg’s vision and commitment to leveraging the funding to make HIPP work and believes there is strong potential for growth in the program that provides yet another way for GW to help students make their mark on the world.
“No matter where these students wind up, they’ll be advocates for humanitarian work,” Bishop said. “And they’ll be people who help shine a spotlight on those in need.”
Students from this year’s cohort will give a poster presentation of their experiences on Friday, Sept. 26 at the University Student Center. More information will be posted online later.
