WeAreCottey

Landing a top-notch internship is never an easy feat, and for international students, residency restrictions can pose an extra hurdle. But Blessing Gandawa, a business administration and management major at Cottey and an international student, was determined to make it happen. Her persistence finally paid off with a summer internship at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis and a horizon-expanding, career-building experience more than worth writing home about. Gandawa’s quest to find the right internship began in August 2017, her junior year, when she started applying for positions in Nevada and Kansas City. Throughout the fall, she continued to apply at relevant firms — but no one was hiring. “By December, I’d almost given up hope,” she says. Then, she decided to visit a friend in St. Louis for winter break. The Federal Reserve Bank’s website said it was closed to applications, but Gandawa’s friend suggested she give it a shot anyway — and apply in person. Gandawa mad

The flags at Cottey College recently flew at half-mast after another senseless shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue, and today we learn of a shooting at a yoga studio in Tallahassee. “Senseless” is a word we often use after one of these events because rational human beings can’t make sense of why calamities like this happen. In light of recent mass shootings; natural disasters around the world in the form of hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis, and tornadoes; hate-filled language bombarding us from all directions via news channels, social media, or as we drive down the street … I reach out to our community to remind us all that we must work to strengthen the bonds of our humanity, our bonds of kinship, and our bonds of mutual support and unity. When the world seems out of control, we must look for those areas in which we can have an impact. Part of what makes us human is the desire to love and be loved, to respect and be respected, to listen and to be listened to. One of the f