March 28, 2018

Two Students of Italian Selected for 2018 Inserra Sponsored Internships

Posted in: Inserra

The Inserra Chair and the Italian Program are very pleased to announce that two students of Italian have been selected for the 2018 internships offered annually thanks to the support of the Inserra scholarship fund at Montclair State University ($5,000 each): The Audiovisual Translation internship at the Macerata Opera Festival, and the Italian Business internship at the Italian Trade Agency in New York and at Choose New Jersey in Princeton.

Oscar Guevara-Perez, a double major in Italian and Spanish, will spend eight weeks in Macerata, Italy, working with a team of experts from the University of Macerata in charge of producing surtitles and audio-descriptions at a prestigious opera festival whose reputation is also linked to its state-of-the-art accessibility services. “The internship is a great opportunity that is not presented twice in your life,” Oscar remarked. “I will expand my knowledge of translation, and titling in particular, two fields which I intend to explore in depth as options for a professional career.” Oscar has taken specialized courses in these subjects in the Italian Program and worked on specific titling projects.

Talia Antonacci, a major in Italian with a minor in Business, will spend the first part of the internship at the Italian Trade Agency (the commercial branch of the Italian Consulate in NY) and the second at Choose New Jersey, an organization that actively attracts Italian companies to NJ. Talia’s experience includes participation in the 2017 video-interview project Business Italian Style and direct knowledge of Italian fashion companies in New York. “I’m honored to have this wonderful opportunity to utilize the skills I have acquired in both my Italian and Business courses,” Talia commented. “This internship represents a step into my future career, the world of Italian business in our area.”

The selection committees include both Italian faculty and representatives of the partners the Italian Program and the agencies and universities that the Inserra Chair and the Italian Program engages with, which is a sign of the fruitful synergies developed over time to provide students of Italian with targeted pre-professional opportunities, enriched by international experiences (the 2017 intern joined CNJ for a business trip to Italy including meetings with Chambers of Commerce and assorted companies).

“Once again this year, the selection has shown how the study of Italian continues to acquire meaning for our students in combination with Translation and Business, two areas that have increasingly become our focus at Montclair State in the recent years as illustrated by the Italian Translation Project and the Italian and Business activities supported in large part by Inserra funds” – said Teresa Fiore, Inserra Chair, and chair of both selection committees. “This year, surprisingly, I received emails from students attending other universities inquiring about their eligibility: clearly, these opportunities are unique if they attract attention beyond our campus. Montclair State students of Italian are very lucky to be the designated beneficiaries of the generosity of our main donor, Mr. Inserra, who is also a Board of Trustees member on campus.”