Tuesday night, Azusa Pacific alumnus Andrew Henck, manager for World Vision professional development, joined a panel of other alumni at the Career Conversations event hosted by the Office of Career Services. Henck talked about the benefits of a nonprofit internship and shared about such opportunities available through World Vision as well as why these positions are a good option for a number of people.
Julia Russell Toothacre, interim director of APU career services, said that this was the first time her office has done a program like this.
“We are piloting this program of career conversations, and so the idea is we will continue to bring in alumni or employers that students are interested in,” Toothacre said. “We started with World Vision because we knew that there was a high interest, and with Andrew being an alum we felt like it would be a great experience for the students. We wanted to bring a company that was well-known to talk about a more broad topic and introduce students to this idea of doing internships and doing them with a nonprofit and how valuable it can be for their experience.”
The current financial analyst for World Vision was on the panel of APU alums who went through the internship program, and recalled that her time at Azusa Pacific as a student benefited her when it came time to apply with the group.
About 25-30 students attended the event. Sonya Stern, freshman graphic design major attended in order to learn more about World Vision.
Students listen to APU alums about non-profit internships Photo credit: Annely Salgado
“I was a missionary kid who lived overseas in Cambodia and I would see World Vision signs but never really knew what it was other than it was a nonprofit so I was interested,” Stern said.
Henck grew up knowing that World Vision was a place where he was interested in working. He said that after graduating with his masters from APU, his father reminded him that he wanted to work for this organization. Henck transmitted that passion to the students he spoke to Tuesday by encouraging them that their potential is worth much.
“Consider the God-given potential that you have, with the strengths that God has given you, with the interests and passions that you have, and to never fear asking good questions and staying curious about how the world works, to seeing how problems can be solved and to find meaningful ways that are out there to do that,” Henck said. “Whether it’s in an internship or not, being able to see that is a beautiful thing.”
The next Career Conversations event will be Oct. 21 at 7 p.m. in the President’s Dining Room on East Campus, titled “Alumni in the Sports Industry.” Jessie Montz of the Los Angeles Lakers will be in attendance as well as an AEG recruiter, Whitney Johnson. For further information, contact Julia Toothacre at (626) 815-2103 or career@apu.edu.