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An Okanagan College student heads to Africa this summer after receiving awarded a prestigious fellowship grant.
Karen Vandergaag, a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) Honours student at the Kelowna campus, is one of only 12 people from across Canada to be awarded an International Youth Fellowship by the Aga Khan Foundation Canada (AKFC).
“My goal has always been to utilize my business degree to find work in international development,” said Vandergaag. “To know that I have launched a future in this field before I’ve even graduated feels incredible.”
While her fellow students are walking across the stage at convocation ceremonies next month, Vandergaag will be in Ottawa for a management seminar with other fellowship recipients departing for international projects.
Vandergaag will be heading to Tanzania in August, where she will spend eight months working with CARE, an international non-governmental organization dedicated to disaster relief and fighting global poverty.
Her work will revolve around research and project co-ordination with the organization’s microfinance and microenterprise arms.
Vandergaag praised the college’s approach to business training, which she said opened to the door to international opportunities.
Locally, Vandergaag has worked as a student researcher with the Scotiabank Centre for Non-Profit Excellence on campus, helping to develop new curriculum that will assist local non-profits in the area of impact reporting and measurement.
Vandergaag also completed an honours research project focused on food security in the Okanagan.
