Internship Report

Volunteer: Damira Janzakova

This report is a reflection on my internship at the International Science and Technology Center (ISTC) and its participation in the International Recognized Exhibition, Expo 2017 Astana, taking place in Astana, Kazakhstan. The internship lasted for 4 months, from May 22 to September 15.

The internship has provided me with a valuable experience that has been enriching on the personal and professional scales. During my internship, I was primarily assigned to organize the Special Day of ISTC, attend the Organization’s booth in the International Organizations Plaza, and various other tasks.

Considering the importance of the organization’s Special Day, I was involved in formulating the event’s programme, inviting important guests and overseeing accreditation for all attendees, as well as staff members.

During the period of the exposition, I have regularly manned the organization’s stand, where I was able to meet a large number of people, including directors of other pavilions, heads of international organizations, representatives of countries and the public, originating from different countries and possessing various cultural backgrounds. This diversity created a room for my personal development, such as gaining a better understanding of others, widening personal horizon and being able to communicate with different age groups and guests of various professional spheres.

Throughout the internship, I was faced with numerous obstacles and challenges of diverse nature that allowed me to acquire a remarkable set of new skills. On the professional scale, I realized the importance of becoming a team player, maintaining solid relations with superiors and overcoming problems in efficient and effective fashion. Furthermore, being surrounded with an international community, I was able to improve my linguistic skills in English.

Of note, the leadership of Ms. Mukayeva has positively contributed to the success of the project. She has constantly shown great dynamics, concern and commitment. Under her attentive supervision, the work was performed in progressive and efficient manner.

In conclusion, considering that this is my first work experience, I have found it rewarding and gratifying in general. Throughout the internship, I was able to acquire valuable and necessary abilities that set my future career path to flourish.

Volunteer: Adil Les

I am sure I will remember my work for the International Science and Technology Center for a long time, because I have got a lot of good memories and a significant and valuable experience this summer. I am very grateful to the ISTC administration and, especially, the project manager Torgyn Mukayeva for giving me an opportunity to work for such an important international organization. She was the person who believed and supported me. I also want to thank all ISTC staff who I worked with, because due to them my knowledge about ISTC was increasing and it made my work easier. Analyzing the experience I earned, I can divide it into two parts: the preparation to the ISTC Special Day and my work at the ISTC stand at EXPO site itself.

I enjoyed the time when ISTC was holding the ISTC Special Day a lot. There are few reasons and one of them is that it was my first big conference I helped to organize. Due to this experience my organizing skills improved significantly. Moreover, I got an idea of the way how such kind of events should be conducted. Another reason is that I met people of science who achieved different important goals in their fields. One of them was a Nobel Prize winner. The acquaintance with those scientists inspired me to keep going in my future science career. Also such meetings stimulated me to get better and work hard.

Another work which gave me additional important experience was in the International Organizations Plaza at the EXPO site. There were 17 international organizations inside the Plaza, and one of them was International Science and Technology Center. I introduced the Organization to other people providing them with information and handouts of ISTC. Therefore, I got a huge opportunity to speak to people in three languages. One of the bonuses of this work was that every day I could learn something new. During the work I communicated with people from all parts of Kazakhstan and all over the world. I founded it useful, because they shared their knowledge and experience and told about their cultures. Also I met interesting people who worked inside the International Organizations Plaza. They were very pleasant individuals and I could talk to them and learn something new from their life experience. Therefore, my work gave me new excited connections with people and I would like to keep in touch with them.

The summer 2017 was one of the most exciting and useful periods for me. I consider myself as a lucky person for working in the International Science and Technology Center. That great experience I earned can be helpful for my future life. Due to this work I have developed my organizational and communicative skills. I was very pleased to work for ISTC.

Volunteer: Togzhan

Hello everyone, my name is Togzhan. I’ve been a volunteer during the three months in the international organization which is called International Science and Technology center. My main duty was to introduce primary missions, activities, history, achievements of ISTC to the visitors of International Exhibition EXPO 2017. EXPO 2017 was held in the capital of Kazakhstan in Astana where our own country Kazakhstan and more than 95 countries, 22 international organizations including ISTC, were presenting their projects about possible ways of using renewable energy. Beside the projects in the field of future energy, many countries, especially Kazakhstan in order to attract visitors have showed their culture, traditional dishes, clothes, entertaining programs. Each country had had an own pavilion and international organizations are not exception. 22 international organizations such as UN, OPEC, OECD, OFID, IRENA, OSCE, ISTC etc. were located in one plaza. We had a small special stand inside this plaza with interactive computer where the video about ISTC and their partner countries was played. From the beginning till the end of the exhibition our stand never was empty because many people were really interested in ISTC. And now after finishing volunteering I want to thank ISTC for hiring me as a volunteer because I found a lot of advantages in this. Firstly, I had a chance to improve my English speech because I met a lot of foreign tourists and talked with them. I think that speaking with native speakers is more effective than other practices. Secondly, certificate that confirms that I was a volunteer has a good impact to my social life. Being a social active person is valued in university. Thirdly, this summer was incredibly cool and full of interesting things. During the work I met new friends, received different gifts and saw national day performances of several countries. I am eternally grateful to ISTC for providing opportunity to be a volunteer and I want to wish more achievements in the future as well.

Volunteer: Arman

I have worked as an official representative of International Science and Technology Center during International Exhibition Astana Expo 2017 between June 10^th and September 10^th, 2017. My responsibilities included but were not limited to presentation of the Center's activities and projects and informational support to exhibition guests and international delegates. Within these three months I was given a chance to meet a lot of outstanding personalities from all around the globe and my dream to meet a Nobel Prize Awarder came true. Another great asset of this job was the team of motivated young professionals I was a part of. The team spirit and support of my supervisors and peers made every step of this journey enjoyable for me.

All in all, this work experience provided me an opportunity to broaden my horizon and enrich my mind with the new professional experience, increased cultural awareness and improved foreign language skills. Finally, I have made new friends and further developed my presentation and communication skills.