This summer, AAA is hosting two students who are pursuing volunteer and internship opportunities through the association. In their time at the AAA office in Arlington, VA, they have the opportunity to learn more about the diverse career paths available to anthropologists while also contributing to ongoing AAA projects and initiatives.

Emma Prins, a senior at Washington-Lee High School in Arlington, volunteered with the association’s publications department in late May and June. Her primary task was to reorganize and inventory the AAA office library. She became interested in anthropology following her experience with the Smithsonian Institution’s Future Female Scientists program in 2007. As part of that program, Emma has interned with Smithsonian Anthropologist Briana Pobiner for the past year. She is also enrolled in her school’s International Baccalaureate social anthropology course. She hopes to learn more about academic publishing and career opportunities in anthropology through her time at AAA, and hopes that her experiences will inspire other high school students to learn more about anthropology. Emma will be attending Bryn Mawr College in the fall and plans to major in anthropology and biology.

Aleksandra Fedunchak will be interning at the AAA beginning this July. She is currently an undergraduate at Bloomsburg University where she is majoring in anthropology and communication studies. Aleksandra was born in Donetsk, Ukraine and is fluent in Russian. She previously volunteered in the placement center at the AAA Annual Meeting in November 2007. Aleksandra looks forward to a beneficial and enjoyable internship with the AAA’s public affairs department, where she will be working to develop an expert database and to expand the social networking opportunities available to members. After receiving her BA, Aleksandra plans to study anthropology and public health in graduate school.