Meet Our 2017 United Nations Summer Interns!

My name is Tyler Goldstein and I am from Plainview, NY. I am 16 years old and will be a Junior next fall. I read the news daily and have a heavy interest in politics. I am also an active member of the Model United Nations club in my school, and I wish to learn more about how the UN committees operate. As a member of Model UN, it was my dream to be able to sit in on real committees and see and learn from delegates in action. I would like to perhaps one day become a delegate myself.

My name is Esther Choi, a 17-year-old student from Suwanee, Georgia. I have always had a keen interest in the world and its workings, yet it was not until I began to actively pursue change and seek to define my role in helping others that I was truly able to understand the importance of organizations such as the United Nations. It was this recognition that led me to not only intern at the UN but to also create a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping refugees, a topic I am particularly impassioned about.

My Name is Nicholas Wright. I am from Louisville, Kentucky, and I currently attend Ballard High School. What drew me to this UN internship was a longing for change. In this day and age, I feel like we spend too much time discussing problems and not enough time trying to find solutions to them. I applied for this program because I want to have an actual hand in making a change. Why waste time talking about what is wrong with the world when you could be helping to make a change yourself. That is my goal and motivation for applying to this internship.

Hello, my name is Sara Thirlwell. I am 16 years old, and I am from Toronto, ON, Canada. I am an advocate for positive change, social justice, and building peace among our nations for the overall positive movement of the world. This is what specifically led me to applying for this internship at the United Nations through the Temple of Understanding. As a citizen of this world and as an advocate for overall positive change in all aspects that have significant effects on our world, such as the environment, equality, social justice, peace building and many more, I saw a wonderful opportunity to share my core values with what the United Nations and the Temple of Understanding’s purpose is to build.

My name is Claire Burwell, and I am a 17-year-old student at the Convent of the Sacred Heart in New York City. I am originally from Springfield, Illinois, but I moved to New York when I was three years old and have lived here ever since. I learned about this internship through a few school friends who have attended the program in previous years and have said many favorable things about it. I have wanted to intern at the UN ​because of my deep-rooted passion for foreign affairs and desire to increase my knowledge of international diplomacy in relation to religion.

My name is Eunice Park, and I am a 17-year-old girl currently attending school in Los Angeles, California. Originally from South Korea, I immigrated to the United States in 2006. From a very early age, I have been passionate about social justice issues- whether it be the issues I witnessed within my own community or others I was educated about outside of my limited community. Within my own community, I have worked with dozens of homeless shelters and domestic violence shelters in hosting mobile libraries and literacy classes.

My name is Akash Mishra, and I am a 17- year-old student at the American School of Dubai in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. I’m from the United States, having lived in Kansas City, KS, before moving to Dubai in the spring of 2010, but have a strong connection with my Indian roots. I have a strong passion for issues surrounding international understanding and political cooperation. As an American of Indian origin, I have always been surrounded by cultural syncretism of some sort, and it was this synthesis of two cultures, punctuated by my experience living in the global cultural melting pot that is Dubai, that prompted my initial interest in issues of international understanding and global culture.

My name is Jacob Castillo, and I am a 17 year old from Houston, Texas. I currently attend the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts as a theatre major. Coming from a humble and working-class household, I learned at a young age that empathy is key to understanding. I constantly witnessed hardship and strife among the poorest wards of Houston, which in turn instilled within me a passion for those who face oppression and poverty. As a child, I learned of the struggles my predecessors endured during the Great Depression and WWII.

My name is Anushka Singh. I am 19 years old, and I am an American citizen of Indian descent. I was born in Connecticut and grew up there before moving to Mumbai, India in 2008. I have always been interested in areas such as politics, religion, and diplomacy, which is why interning at the United Nations is an enormous privilege. Having grown up in two disparate countries and cultures, I have begun to understand the urgent need to address issues such as gender equality, sexual abuse, terrorism and poverty through peaceful talks, conflict resolution and effective action.

My name is Ryan Adell. I am a 17-year-old high school student from New York. Simply put, the world has problems. The world also has problem solvers. I am interning at the United Nations to try my hand at becoming one of these problem solvers. Politics does interest me, and I have started a non-profit organization - Next Generation Politics - to promote civic engagement and political understanding among young people.

y name is Elie Farah. I am 16 years old and was born and raised in New York City. Both of my parents are of Middle Eastern descent, and some of the most defining moments of my childhood came from spending time in Damascus, where I reveled in Middle Eastern culture and learned to speak Arabic. Several years ago, I began studying Mandarin in school, which led me to develop a deep interest in Chinese culture and language.

My name is Zach Karpovich and I am a 17-year-old junior from Rye High School in Rye, New York. My interest in interning  at the U.N. stemmed from an appreciation for the positive impact that the U.N. has had on the world, and a desire to be a part of this world changing organization. I am entering the Temple of Understanding’s UN Program this summer with my focus on environmental issues and ecological justice. I have a passion for the environment and for the humanitarian issues caused by environmental degradation and climate change, as air and water pollution have negative effects on human health.

Hi, my name is Philine van Karnebeek and I am a 16-year-old junior living in Amsterdam. Since 2014, I have become increasingly interested in politics and religion and the relationship between the two. Although I personally am an atheist, I have always kept an open mind towards religion and I do embrace many of the principles that religions stand for. While searching for activities to do during my summer vacation, I came across the internship on the Temple of Understanding website.

My name is Pallab Saha. I am a sixteen year old from Queens, New York. I currently attend Stuyvesant High School, an elite specialized high school near the Financial District of New York City. Throughout my life, the United Nations has been an fascinating entity due to its presence in the world as a peacekeeping organization dedicated to fighting for human rights. Since childhood, being Hindu has played a key role in developing my identity. My exposure to religion sparked my interest in different faiths and how they influence daily life.

My name is Grace Wilson, and I am 17 years old. I am from New York City. I was initially inspired to work at the UN because of all of the important work that they do around the world, especially as it pertains to my chosen initiative, Peacemaking. As the world changes and becomes more and more divisive, the UN’s role in international relations has become increasingly important, which is a part of what makes this internship such an important one.

My name is Justin Chang and I am a sixteen-year-old rising senior from Seoul, Republic of Korea. I first applied to this internship because of my fascination towards the UN that stems from my interest in history and current events. TOU’s UN Internship Program will allow me to experience the UN not vicariously but in reality. I hope to attend and observe the intense negotiations between nations on issues like the conflict in Syria, the belligerence of North Korea, and the world AIDS epidemic.