Whirlwind of Activity

Chris Hutchinson joins us from Tampa, FL where he recently graduated from the University of South Florida Honors College with two undergraduate degrees; a bachelor of arts in international relations and bachelor of science in public health. Chris is currently working toward a Master of Business Administration from Saint Leo University, which he will place on hold starting this fall, when he begins law school. 

With 9 years in the US Army, Chris plans to use his military, international, and public health experience to earn his Juris Doctor degree. With a JD and an MBA he foresees a future working with veterans and NGO’s from his own law firm.  He is completing his Youth in Development (YiD) internship at Medical Care Development International (MCD), which works to enhance the well-being of peoples and communities in developing nations through technical assistance in health and socioeconomic development.  The U.S. International Council on Disabilities has recently launched the YiD internship program, which brought seven students with disabilities from across the US to Washington, DC, to complete internships at seven international organizations in the DC area. In this blog post, he shares some of his experiences with the YiD program from earlier this summer.

Connect with Christopher Hutchinson via his Linked In profile at: www.linkedin.com/pub/chistopher-hutchinson/70/69a/390/

The last two weeks have been a whirlwind! I finally finished my first project for MCDI which was to condense quarterly and annual reports into a short 6 page paper that will be developed into a pamphlet to help show people that are not aware of MCDI, what they do. What is so exciting about that is that I wrote something that they will ultimately use to show the world their anti-malaria project.

This week I have been added to a new project that is starting up called MalariaCare Ethiopia. The project will be a carryover from other similar projects across Sub-Saharan Africa, but this is the first time MCDI is going into Ethiopia. The best part of this project for me is that I will get to be involved with the team that is starting from the ground up. I will be involved in the phone calls to Ethiopia and to other organizations that we will work in conjunction with. I will get to give my input and ideas to the project. I will really be getting a chance to learn what development is all about and how it all works.

On the personal side of things, my service dog Kevin is adapting well to the big city lifestyle. Not that Tampa is a small city, but Washington DC is a whole new world compared to home. We’ve found some parks for him to play in and met some great people. We’ve also seen a lot of amazing things and fostered deeper relationships with my intern peers.  I can’t believe we are already halfway done; it feels like I just got here yesterday. As the temperature rises though, I’m starting to miss more and more, the cool gulf breeze.