Student Spotlight: Abby Horne


Abby Horne sitting in a resteraunt.

My name is Abby Horne. I am a Senior in Global Studies and I had the amazing opportunity to be the Operations and Social Services Intern at Lifeline Children's Services last summer. I knew when I started looking for an internship that I wanted to find a way to merge my passions for ministry and adoption with my skills I have learned through the Global Studies program. Serving as the Operations and Social Services Intern gave me the opportunity to do just that. Some of my responsibilities were writing home studies, compiling families' dossiers, state office reviews, researching different country's adoption policies, planning events for adoptive families, and researching expansion opportunities. This was a learning opportunity for me as I had never done most of those tasks before. One of my favorite days of the summer was when I got to take photos for a family's adoption day. It was so special to be apart of 2 boys meeting their forever family. Those are the moments that make all of the hard work worth it. Overall, working under the VP of Operations, the VP of Social Services, and the International Director allowed me to see so much of what goes into running an organization the size of Lifeline. Because I was a full time intern I was able to observe and take part in almost every division of the ministry.

This internship was when the practicality of Global Studies became real to me. One of the most tangible ways I was able to see our classroom discussions coming to life was when working alongside other cultures through International Adoption. I realized that Global Studies has given me skills that allow me to respectfully learn about and appreciate other cultures in a way that students in other majors may not. This was to my advantage when working alongside the different International Adoption country teams. While there are some similarities, every country that Lifeline partners with is different in some ways. The reasons that children are placed for adoption, the stigma surrounding adoption, their communication styles, and even their view of Americans are all different from country to country. Learning more about the cultures in those countries allowed me to understand and work better with their people and regulations.

Global Studies has taught me to never stop learning. To ask hard questions and to always leave the world better than you found it. I know that these lessons will impact my future career, whatever it may be, and my life as a whole. The experience I gained and the friendships I made through interning at Lifeline are invaluable to me.

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