Sally Huang interned at the U.S. – Taiwan Business Council. Sally worked on research oriented tasks related to the topic of international defence and cooperation.

Never did I think I could join Illinois in Washington Program during my studying abroad year, and I never imagined I could intern at the U.S.-Taiwan Business Council, working closely on all the issues related to my home country––Taiwan.

As an intern at the Council, my daily task is reading Taiwanese news in the realms of my own interests and compiling them into useful information for the staff. Since this internship is research-based, I also got assigned with a variety of short-term and long-term research projects, such as U.S.-Taiwan recent collaborations, Taiwan’s energy policies, and the programs conducted by Taiwan’s Ministry of Digital Affairs, and I had one research paper as final project, which I can choose any topics I’m interested in as long as it’s associated with Taiwan. On top of the research, I helped with the decoration of the entire office, especially the bulletin boards which I’m very satisfied with, and the rearrangement of the gift inventory, and I attended several meetings and events as well. While I kept sharpening the skill set––research and communication––I’ve
already equipped with, I gained more insight on the U.S. stance on trading issues, and it is not until this internship that I realized the importance of the defense industries and cooperation between the two countries. I also learned a lot from asking the Vice President and the President of the Council various questions. They are patient to explain every technical terms and the reason why doing things in this way and tell me the history of the Council and our relations with other organizations and the government. Because of my curiosity, they often ended up telling me more stories and interesting facts I’ve never heard before. On the other hand, I further expanded my network through interning at the Council. I not only got the opportunity to meet with Taiwanese Ambassador Yui, Director Hu, at the Economic Division of Taipei Economic and Cultural Office, Rick Ruzicka, an indispensable person working on bilateral trade, several officers in Taiwanese Defense Mission, and others, but I also had deeper and enlightening conservation with most of them, which further solidifies my choices of studying and career paths.

I really enjoy every moment I spent with the Council, and it is not only because of the knowledge, skills, connections I obtained but because of the warmth and kindness I feel throughout my entire internship period.

Although I’m not Political Science major, I like the classes a lot no matter it is Wednesday night’s class or Friday’s class. Every Wednesday is always reflectional, for the discussions constantly prompt me to ponder, and the diverse opinions other classmates brought in further informed me since I grew up with a completely different background. As for Fridays, I always looked forward to the afternoon activities–– we not only visited the White House, D.C. Superior Court, the Brookings Institute, and other places, but we also met with the alumnis working in different fields––which expands my D.C. experiences. Moreover, I build up friendship with other participants in the IIW program, and we together created more memories, which I cherish a lot and will never forget.