Comm Connection May 2013 | Page 16

Unlimited Opportunities

16

By |Theresa White|

Natalie Bedney, a graduating senior at CSUSB has a word for the wise: “Go for every opportunity possible—study abroad, internships, research opportunities—apply for everything because you might just get them.”

And Bedney knows from her own experience. A dual major in Communication with a concentration in Public Relations and Arabic language literature and culture, Bedney has done what many students only dream about—she spent a summer abroad in Jordan learning how to speak Arabic and she landed a coveted internship with the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC.

As Bedney explains, “The opportunities I’ve had these past four years have been life changing.”

After her summer abroad, Bedney found a summer opportunity on a Federal job website. “The position was for a paid internship at the Smithsonian Aerospace Museum in Washington, D.C.,” she recalls.

“I really love history, so I thought, ‘Why not?’” she says and then adds, “I didn’t think I would really get it!”

But she did get the internship beating out hundreds of other candidates. Bedney says that she didn’t have any special experience to offer the Smithsonian, except that she was a student at Cal State San Bernardino and she really wanted the experience with the Smithsonian.

Natalie Bedney