Being Intern(ational)
Hello, world! My name is Ingrid Ecker and I am Flashstarts’ first international intern. I am a passionate stop motion artist and game designer. I am a Masters student for Entertainment Technology in a dual degree program of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh and Madeira Interactive Technologies Institute in Portugal.
I was told I wouldn’t be able to do an internship in the U.S. since I haven’t spent two consecutive semesters at a university in America. Well, here I am – legally of course – sitting in “my” animation studio in Flashstarts’ office, looking over the rooftops of Cleveland, Ohio.
Being an international intern means some extra effort from the company and the intern – but, it’s not impossible! Flashstarts had the will and went with me through an application process in just 4 weeks (it usually takes at least 10.)
As international intern, you need a J-1 Visa, a Visa for cultural exchange. To get this type of Visa, you need to find a sponsor organization, designated by the U.S. government, who is responsible for your cultural exchange and who monitors and supports your stay in the U.S. In order to apply for a sponsor, I needed to state my objectives, my previous experiences, the connection between my internship and my current education and a training plan.
If your host company has less than 25 full-time employees or less than $3 million annual revenue, the sponsor organization does a site visit at the company to inspect that you as intern will be in good hands and get the internship you deserve. My sponsor organization did a site visit and approved Flashstarts as a host company for international interns.
As soon as everything was approved, the sponsor organization sent me all the necessary documents for my Visa interview at the U.S. embassy and charged me their participation fee, which also covers health insurance during my whole stay— which Flashstarts offered to pay.
With the stamp on my passport and the flight ticket in my hand, I started off on exciting adventure, where I experience every day that “Where there’s a will there’s a way” is not just a quote, and where I am grateful for having the most support possible during my internship here at Flashstarts.
Position: Stop Motion Animator
School: Carnegie Mellon University/Madeira Interactive Technologies Institute (Portugal)
