by Theresa Richter

I am studying North American Studies at the John F. Kennedy-Institute in Berlin, and during my semester abroad, I came across the internship position at the Atlantic Academy. I was right away enthusiastic about their mission, the cooperation with the Americans in the Kaiserslautern Military Community and the outreach of the events. Especially since Donald Trump has been elected President of the United States, there is a strong interest among Germans in the future of American politics and its impact internationally, due to which we were able to attract a broad range of participants, among them many students, to our events.

All employees at the Atlantic Academy are open-minded, friendly and respectful and involve interns immediately in their work. Each week’s agenda is discussed in a one to two-hour team meeting, but the team is open to any remaining questions anytime. On my first day, I was introduced to the main tasks of the Academy, one of which is the content of our Facebook page. I researched articles and information for posts, so for example in March concerning “Women’s History Month”, during which I was able to introduce successful American women and female leaders in a few sentences. In the general selection of topics, the interns have a lot of freedom. We post political news articles in English and German, information on new movies (Movie Monday) and recipes (Saturday Serving) or recommend travel destinations in Germany and the US (Travel Thursday). Apart from online research, I assisted Oliver with the organization and realization of events, their advertising and the prepared the event location. With only a few exceptions, I attended every event, saw for guests and took photos for our website and Facebook. In addition, my tasks included translating texts and articles, proofreading of our flyers and formulating press releases.

Apart from drafting Facebook posts, press releases articles on our evens, I was actively involved in the process of planning new projects. For example, I researched event topics for 2018 considering upcoming anniversaries and holidays, suggested research questions and suitable speakers. I was able to attend meetings with cooperation partners, business lunches and any event, where I could actively participate. My suggestions, which I had concerning the designs of our flyers, our paper block or formulations were always welcome and appreciated.

I highly recommend this internship to any student with passion for German-American relations and educational work, who are interested in social and political topics. In the small team, you can get an encompassing impression of the work fields of an Americanist and are able to undertake various tasks.

from Annika Köhne

As part of my B.A. studies at the Heidelberg Center for American Studies, I was looking for a varied and informative internship, which would give me a deeper insight into the possible work areas of an "Americanist". As the Atlantic Academy was already known to me through its many events and seminars, I applied for a multi-month internship. The academy was highly recommended to me by fellow students who had already completed an internship there.

With the Atlantic Academy, I had found a place that offered me exactly what I was looking for and I became part of a very open and friendly team that includes interns in every aspect of their work. Therefore, during my time in Kaiserslautern, I received an exciting and varied insight into all tasks of the Atlantic Academy and supported the team not only in the area of administrative duties, but I also actively participated in the conception, organization and realization of numerous events, seminars and workshops. I have been able to apply my knowledge as well as my methodological skills at the Academy to support events not only through research, but also to actively shape student workshops through the preparation of work materials and presentations. In addition, I learned a lot about the subject and discovered many of the unknown educational possibilities in the area of American studies and transatlantic relations, which will be very helpful for my future studies. At events, I also made valuable contacts, which I will greatly benefit from as soon as I finish my studies.

An internship at the Atlantic Academy offers the opportunity to contribute to an informative and balanced exchange of information and opinions on cultural differences. Because of my very positive experience, I can recommend an internship here to anyone who has a great interest in transatlantic relations and the United States and is committed to political education. Political education is a very interesting field of work, and with regards to the United States, it is an exciting project, especially in the Kaiserslautern and surrounding areas. As public opinion on transatlantic relations is ambivalent especially due to the strong presence of the Americans in the region. Political knowledge of the United States and German-American relations is an advantage in order to be able to actively participate in all areas and to contribute successfully to the work of the Academy.