Student Spotlight: Undergraduate Student Rebecca Rogers interns at Tri-Mission Italy with the U.S. Department of State

Rebecca is interning with the State Department in Rome at Tri-Mission Italy, one of the largest diplomatic missions in the world which comprises three embassies and one consulate. 

She works in the Executive Office at Embassy Rome where she coordinates between the heads of all embassy and consular sections in Italy and the 40 different U.S. government (USG) agencies to manage the tasking of briefings, speeches, and representational events for Ambassador Lewis M. Eisenberg along with assembling and distributing the Ambassador’s agenda to embassy personnel in a timely manner. Her other responsibilities include revising cables destined for Washington D.C., delivering demarches to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) in Italy, note-taking at high-level meetings chaired by the Ambassador, and serving as an escort for the Ambassador’s guests. At one point during her internship, she oversaw all aspects of event planning for the embassy’s annual offsite at the Ambassador’s residence to articulate and promote Mission Italy’s strategic goals and objectives for 2020. 

Rebecca also serves as a liaison between the Pol-Econ Section of the U.S. Mission to the Holy See and Embassy Rome. She attends and drafts reports on conferences that discuss issues that range from the possibility of ordaining married men to the priesthood and women as deacons to address the priest shortage in the Amazon to the role of modern plant biotechnology for agricultural development and food security. As a matter of fact, the latter prevailed as the dominant issue at a conference of 200 attendees hosted by Ambassador Callista L. Gingrich and Ambassador Kip Tom that Rebecca helped direct. 

Rebecca is sincerely grateful for the Clements Center’s gracious help in making this extraordinary experience a possibility. This opportunity has allowed her to amass practical professional experience and to discover the range of responsibilities and careers found in the U.S. State Department and Foreign Service.