In a time when gaining in-person work experience has been a challenge, recent honours international relations and psychology graduate Celina Oster is especially grateful for her in-person internship in fall 2020 through the Laurentian Leadership Centre (LLC) in Ottawa. LLC is a live-in extension program in downtown Ottawa that offers access to a variety of elite Ottawa internships in politics and NGOs.

“It’s very different to actually see the legislative process in action compared with learning it in a classroom,” says Oster.

Oster is also grateful for the unique experience LLC provides, learning from Christian professors while living in community with other Christian interns. She spent time working with an MP in Ottawa. Much of her internship focused on research and memo writing related to private members’ bills tackling human trafficking and child exploitation. Oster was pleased to see an all-party group come together to work on these issues.

“Even with all the partisanship, there are a lot of parties that care about human trafficking,” says Oster. “They put their differences aside to talk about something they all care about and to do really good work. It’s truly possible to work with people with whom you strongly disagree on other issues.”

Oster has spent the last few summers working for an immigration consulting firm. She has enjoyed working with people from other countries, learning their stories and understanding them better.

This fall Oster began a 10-month internship role at the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba. She is excited to be able to do more in-depth research, see projects progress over a longer period of time and get a broader view of how the legislative process works. The program also involves attending seminars with many different organizations.

It’s going to be challenging but very exciting too. I’ll be challenged to learn how to live out my faith but also to be effective in my work and where I am placed.

“I’ll get a very broad view of so many different aspects of government and other organizations,” she says. “I’m just really excited to learn.”

This time around, Oster will be working for a political party.

“It’s going to be challenging but very exciting too. I’ll be challenged to learn how to live out my faith, but also to be effective in my work and where I am placed.”