UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Perreault Fellows Program, an international internship program funded by an endowment given by Paul and Beverly Perreault, is entering its third year at Penn State.

The Perreaults first began the program in 2019, around the same time that they donated funding for the University's Veterans Center. CSL Behring, the company of which Paul Perreault is CEO, donated funds for the cutting-edge CSL Fermentation Lab on campus. The company was honored as Penn State’s corporate partner of the year in 2019.

The Perreault Fellows Program is a competitive global leadership and internship program that prepares students from multiple disciplines for personal and professional excellence through learning in cross-cultural leadership, ethics, community service, personal mentoring, and an internship abroad related to the field of health and betterment of human condition in general.

Each year the program seeks to enroll a diverse group of Penn State undergraduates in a two-year, co-curricular program, the centerpiece of which is an internship abroad during the summer semester.

The program prepares students for global leadership through participation in the Global Engagement and Leadership Experience (GELE), a workshop through the Rock Ethics Institute, mandatory service, and a presentation on their learning outcomes to the Provost’s Global Advisory Council.

“The Perreault Fellows Program has been an innovative and much-needed addition to Penn State’s learning abroad options. The Perreaults were very keen to bring a new opportunity to Penn State students — one which would offer them real-world work experience abroad coupled with intentional foundations in ethics, service and a global mindset," said Assistant Vice Provost for Global Learning Brian Brubaker. "This kind of program embodies the mission of Penn State, and I couldn’t be more proud of the students the program has engaged over its first three years.”

The first two cohorts

The first cohort of Perreault Fellows was announced in 2019 and the selected five students were set to embark on their international internship experiences in summer 2020. Unfortunately, when the global pandemic hit, these students were unable to complete their internships.

In fall 2020, a second cohort of seven students was selected, with the hopes that they would be able to complete their internship experiences in summer 2021. All seven completed these experiences, as well as Yuna Choi from the first cohort.

“My attraction toward the Perreault Fellows Program is catalyzed by the potential to explore the world and shape me into a better public servant through an enhanced international internship experience,” said Choi, who interned at the Friedrich Newman Foundation, a German-based organization with offices in South Korea. “While I pride myself in being ‘culturally aware,’ I’ve recognized that I still have much more to learn and this program will be of indescribable benefit to me because I can experience the world in a new light.”

The fellows who went on experiences in summer 2021 covered a wide range of countries, including the Czech Republic, Ireland, South Korea and the United Kingdom.

“The time that I spent abroad was the most impactful few weeks of my life, both personally and academically,” said Jessica Raskauskas, who spent nine weeks doing research on COVID-19’s impact on rates of domestic violence in the British LGBTQ+ community. “[I] truly left a different person than when I arrived. It was both the hardest and most incredible thing I have ever done.”

“I really feel like I grew more in that month and a half abroad than I have in years,” said Jordin Mertz, who interned with the Czech Mates program in the Czech Republic. “I was able to step outside my comfort zone and learn so much about my own personal and professional goals, as well as the world around me.”

Click here for a full list of testimonials.

The new cohort

Now, the Perreault Fellows program welcomes its third cohort, a group of eight students from three campuses across the commonwealth. They are:

• Rasheedat Ekiyoyo, University Park
• Celine Gauge, Erie
• Chryztina Harding-Graham, University Park
• Conor Kelley, University Park
• Phoebe Nabua, University Park
• Edann Ofray, York
• Christopher Sarpong, University Park
• Prachi Soni, University Park

These eight students have already begun their participation in the program, attending an initial workshop and a Rock Ethics Institute seminar.

“The Perreault Fellows Program is a unique experiential learning and leadership development program, that puts emphasis on global awareness and citizenship, while preparing students for careers that will enhance human condition globally, in fields such as health, sustainability, or forced migration, for example. Working with fellows and preparing them for abroad experiences was the most rewarding work at Penn State that I was a part of," said program coordinator Renata Horvatek. "They are truly amazing individuals, with bright futures ahead of them.”

For more information about the Perreault Fellows Program, contact the Education Abroad Program at educationabroad@psu.edu or visit the program website.