Billy Noy
Today is July 16, 2021, and a lot of things have changed in my personal life and the U.S. since 2020. There is a new President and Administration. The Covid-19 Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson vaccine rollout has made significant progress with 48.9% of U.S. adults being fully vaccinated. Things are open and mask mandates have disappeared. Due to countries worldwide being very behind in terms of vaccination rates, the pandemic is still not over. The Delta variant is also a big cause of concern.
As for me, I lost around 20 pounds from working at a different job and am in slightly better shape. In the meantime, since February I started to take an online course to get TEFL certified. TEFL stands for Teaching English as a Foreign Language. I have been interested in going abroad again and I enjoyed tutoring and helping out ISU students with French and English in the past. I finished up the course and all of the other requirements recently and will be getting my certification soon.
I finally decided to apply to the Peace Corps around April after lots of back-and-forth thinking. I believe this program would help me achieve my career goals and open up more doors for me while also being very altruistic and matching my values. Another one is the Fulbright which is a prestigious U.S. Cultural Exchange program. I am hoping that these programs would resume for the upcoming cycles due to the cancellations in 2020.
I recently started a Political Affairs internship, which is remote here in the U.S., for a non-profit called The Borgen Project. It is a national organization that focuses on making alleviating global poverty a key focus of U.S. foreign policy. Key things that I will be doing are:
Meet with members of Congress and/or Congressional staffers in my State and District.
Represent The Borgen Project at various business, political, and community events.
Assist with fundraising.
Create a personal fundraising campaign and meet targets.
Mobilize individuals to contact their members of Congress in support of key poverty-reduction legislation.
As needed, speak to groups, classes, and organizations.
Write letters of support for key programs to political leaders, media, and other groups.
I strongly believe in the values and work of this organization and am grateful I was given this opportunity. I never had an internship before. Not many people know that reducing global poverty will make Americans more prosperous at home. As more people are lifted out of poverty this creates a larger market of consumers for multinational companies. More people outside of the U.S. can buy products from American companies such as Colgate Toothpaste, or Dell laptops. This translates to more jobs and opportunities for people abroad and in the U.S.
There is also the national security aspect of lifting people out of poverty abroad. With youth having necessities being met, being educated, having a job, etc. there is a smaller chance they would choose to join terrorist groups such as ISIS.
Reducing global poverty also helps reduce overpopulation. The majority of population growth is occurring in Sub-Saharan African countries which are in poverty. Women tend to have fewer kids if they know that they won’t die early.
As part of the Borgen Project Team, I want to share with everyone my fundraising campaign, any amount of money helps. Another thing I am asking readers to do is to email your congressional leader using the action center link below to support the International Affairs budget. It is quick and easy. Only do the email one if you reside in Iowa!
The future for me in terms of a corporate job is still unknown. I am hoping I will get a job I enjoy at a company I like and move up to something better. I will continue to keep looking and network. I am hoping to also launch into a career in the international affairs field if that doesn’t work out. If anyone wants to connect with me, I would gladly like to connect on LinkedIn.
Edited by Rachel Alvarado
Congratulations on your achievements and your personal journey, Billy!
Billy- what a difference 8 months makes! So many bold steps & decisions towards your goals. How inspiring!!
Congratulations on your upcoming TEFL certification, application for Peace Corps and Fulbright, and your internship with the Borgen Project! You're resilient and I am certain that you will excel in all you do. Keep up the amazing work!