Internship takes student to India

[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/stark.jpg” caption=”After only a week on campus, Stark left for a three month internship with a non-governmental women’s organization that will take her to seven different states in India.”]Nicole Stark went back to school just in time to leave again.

After only a week on campus, Stark left for a three month internship with a non-governmental women's organization that will take her to seven different states in India, including a trip to one of the least traveled-to areas of the country.

It's a great opportunity for the political science and peace studies major, who will use the internship with Mahila Shanti Sena (Women's Peace Corps) to conduct research for her thesis paper.

“I'm going in very open-minded,” she said, before leaving for India. “I don't know what to expect, so I'm just going to see where things take me.”

Created in 2001 with the assistance of the McMaster Centre for Peace Studies, the Women's Peace Corps is a grassroots organization that focuses on the needs of rural people in Bihar, one of the poorest and most illiterate states in India, and trains women in peace, non-violence and their rights and responsibilities within local government.

Stark says she'll make the most of her journey to India, where she hopes to learn about and see as much of the country as she can.

“The internship will really help me with my research,” said Stark, “and I'm also looking forward to sharing what I learn in India with others when I get home.”

When she goes back to school yet again.