85° EAST – A New Kind of Internship Experience

Known throughout for his Nepal Wireless Networking Project, the Internet Hall of Fame inductee Mahabir Pun, along with Eve Dimango, is now the Executive director of a new project called the 85° EAST.

85^o EAST is a summer internship program based in Kathmandu with the belief that “classroom learning should extend beyond classroom boundaries.”  College students who are accepted to the 85° East Summer Internship Program will be paired with Nepali teachers, entrepreneurs, or engineers who are involved in ongoing development projects. In addition to their placement, students will also be responsible for attending weekly seminars with the program director.

The Summer Internship Program

The Summer 2017 Internship Program has been designed to “give students the freedom to pursue a creative independent project or internship while still providing a framework for academic and personal growth.”

This program is 70% project-based and 30% structured academic work. It will run from approximately June 5 to August 11, 2017. Exact dates are partially dependent on student projects. The full summer will cost 2000 USD and includes all living expenses (housing, food, laundry, and internet access).

Seminar Themes

The themes of the seminar are:

• Authenticity: What’s it good for?

The students will dissect the meaning and accessibility of authenticity and its relationship to traveling and working abroad.

• Cultural Similarities and Differences: 

The students will discuss the obvious cultural and political differences seen in Nepal, and perhaps more subtle ones as well.

• On the Outside Looking In:

Students will be pushed to unpack the discomfort of being easily recognized as different, and to think deeply about how they deal with it.

• Reflection and Introspection

Students will be let to reflect on their education and experience in Nepal.

For more information, you can visit the official website. The application is already closed, but if you’re interested, you can still apply via email. There’s a notice about it on the application page.