Undergraduate students from any major who are interested in pursuing an international internship in East and Southeast Asian countries may be eligible for up to $6,500 to help make the experience affordable.
Kent State University’s Office of Global Education is offering the awards through the KSU Freeman Fellows Internship in Asia Program, which this year has received a grant of $85,000 to offer support for up to 12 students.
“This is our second award in as many years from this foundation, with a $10,000 increase from last year’s award,” said Desiree Dube, senior education abroad advisor, who is in charge of the Freeman Fellows program, told Kent State Today.
The purpose of the KSU Freeman Fellows Internship in Asia program is to encourage undergraduate students of all academic backgrounds to expand their worldviews, strengthen cross-cultural communication skills, and become more engaged global citizens while gaining practical career experience.
The Freeman Foundation supports Freeman Fellows. The program is designed to give U.S. undergraduate students first-hand exposure to Asia and its people and cultures to promote greater understanding of the region.
Learn more about Freeman Fellows internships.
In its first year, 12 Kent State students traveled to various Asian countries, including Japan, Vietnam and Singapore, to work for international corporations and other businesses while learning valuable skills for their future careers, Dube said.
The interns reported back enthusiastically about their time abroad, exploring new cultures and gaining real-world work experience.
Brandon Angell, a junior computer science major from Aurora, Ohio, said he took part in a study abroad program in Tokyo, Japan in 2024, and was anxious to return because he is minoring in Japanese.
“In computer science, we have to have a foreign language credit, and I just decided to fast-track mine into a minor,” Angell said.
The Freeman Fellowship was a terrific opportunity because he did not have to compete for the internship, as he might have if he applied for an internship at home.
“It was guaranteed acceptance in the computer science field,” he said.
Angell worked for Visual Alpha in Tokyo, an AI-powered data intelligence and reporting automation platform that works for the financial sector, in government contracting and pension investment.
“I learned a lot of real technical skills, as well as project planning and soft skills such as working in an office environment,” Angell said. “I learned different languages, different libraries.”
As he enters his senior year, Angell's experience also brought to the forefront for him how he could apply what he has been learning in the classroom to practical on-the-job experience.
“I worried about a big learning curve, but you are not expected to know everything; you are there to learn at the end of the day,” he said.
His time in Japan also helped to further expand his worldview, but because most Japanese people speak English, the travel and work were less intimidating.
“It definitely helps you see the negatives and positives of everywhere you go,” he said. Angell enjoyed being able to feel safe walking outside in a big city at any hour of the day or night.
“It’s such a different experience. It’s clean, quiet, and respectful. You know you are safe,” he said. “They have a train system and public transportation systems, so you can get anywhere on a train, and it’s walkable.”
Angell admits that he selected Kent State for his studies because of its affordability. “They have the Choose Ohio First Scholarships, and that helps to pay for a lot of my tuition,” he said.
However, as he embarks on his junior year with experiences like study abroad and the Freeman Fellowship internship on his resume, Angell noted how, “Kent State gets it done.”
“I am happy I chose Kent State,” he said.
Maryam Bonchu, a junior psychology major from Kent, Ohio, spent two months over the summer in Vietnam, working for SENBOX, a company based in Ho Chi Min City that provides special education frameworks for teachers and schools with a variety of ready-to-go teaching programs.
Bonchu is studying industrial psychology, a field similar to human resources, and she spent her time working for SENBOX’s human resources department.
The company, she said, endeavors to bring scientifically proven methods of special education to Vietnam to become the norm in that country’s educational system, to do away with outmoded and unethical methods still used in some schools.
Bonchu was hoping to find an internship and she was considering studying abroad, so when she learned of the Freeman Fellows program, it checked both boxes, plus included an award to help pay for the internship program fee.
It was Bonchu’s first time traveling out of the country, and she wanted to choose a culture that was completely different from the U.S.
“This was just perfect,” she said. “For my first trip, I wanted something totally out of the box.”
For career preparedness, Bonchu said she gained valuable insight into how diverse cultures perceive various issues in the workplace.
“Someone from a different culture or country may work in different ways,” Bonchu said. “We definitely need to keep an open mind.”
“There were definitely cultural differences when it came to the workplace,” she continued, “One thing my supervisor expressed to me is that a lot of employees will not communicate problems, but in America, communication is the number one thing. That has opened my mind to realizing how other people work.”
Bonchu found the Vietnamese people warm and welcoming.
“It was so cool just seeing how everyone is such a community,” she said, “It doesn’t matter if it is day or night, we would see people outside socializing at little restaurants. My friends and I would be walking, and people would just start talking to us and asking us where we were from. The people were very friendly, curious and welcoming.”
Bonchu said even the language barrier did not stop her from connecting with others.
“Even if you only know English, you can still really connect with them,” she said. “They put the extra effort into trying to talk to you, trying to get to know you, and trying to make you feel comfortable. It was really nice.”
Michaela and Mackenzie Butler, twin sisters from Wexford, Pennsylvania, outside of Pittsburgh, interned for separate companies in Tokyo, Japan.
Michaela, a junior majoring in business analytics and economics, worked for Travel Smart Japan, a company that, through its app and social media posts, offers foreign travelers help and tips on how to navigate Tokyo.
“I would pick a topic, research it, write a script, then go out to the place and record a video, and make the voice-overs and edit it together,” Michaela explained. “They would post it on the website.”
Michaela said being in a professional office setting most days gave her a great understanding of how a workplace functions.
“I had never been in an office workplace before,” she said. “So, I was learning what goes into the marketing and all the different aspects that go into the final product. This was my first time writing a script, and now I understand what a hook in marketing can be. I edited a lot, too.”
Most importantly, though, Michaela said she learned about international business culture.
Mackenzie, a junior majoring in emerging media and technology (EMAT) with minors in broadcast engineering and arts entrepreneurship, was an intern for the Yokohama Theater Group, where her job duties included programming lights, projectors and helping with the company’s website and live streaming.
“I primarily learned how to use a program that tells the projectors what to do and when to do it,” she said.
As an EMAT major, Mackenzie said she found the technology easy to master.
“This is what they are teaching me in class, and this is how I applied it in the real world,” she said. “That I can just pick something up, that’s a skill that maybe future employers will look for.”
Both sisters took part in a faculty-led 10-day study abroad program in 2024 in Japan and were excited about the prospect of returning to the country.
“Japanese companies really want English speakers because it is an international business language,” Mackenzie said.
Having the award money from the Freeman Fellows to help defray their travel expenses made the trip doable, they said.
“Otherwise, we probably would not have been able to go, especially when our parents are sending two kids through college at the exact same time,” Mackenzie said. “This gave us the opportunity to go, and it was the best opportunity we’ve ever had in our lives.”
They are grateful for all the opportunities they have had at Kent State,
Selecting a college was a difficult decision for Michaela, as most places she visited were not for her.
“I didn’t like any of the places I looked at, and I had never even heard of Kent State. A friend mentioned it, and when I came here, I did not immediately feel dread,” Michaela joked. That initial good feeling has grown, she added. “I love it here.”
She also convinced her sister that Kent State was the university for them.
For Mackenzie, finding the right major was the issue. “Everywhere I went, I was exploratory,” she said, adding that it was her sister who first took note of Kent State’s EMAT major and encouraged her to consider it.
“It was a nice broad combination of everything I wanted, when I couldn’t figure out what I wanted to do,” she said. “I specifically came to Kent State to be an EMAT major.”
While in Japan, the sisters met up with other interns for weekly events, clinics and programs, visited beaches and Michaela even took a weekend trip to South Korea.
They also took part in their favorite pastime: eating.
“My favorite thing to do is eating, so I got really good at ordering in Japanese,” Michaela said. “I had whale, which was the most exotic thing. It was like a rubbery fish.”
“The food was delicious. It was so amazing,” Mackenzie added.
Mackenzie, who plays for Kent State Women’s Rugby Club, was also able to play at the Tokyo Gaijin Rugby Club with a group of international visitors.
The KSU Freeman Fellows Internship in Asia program is accepting applications for Summer 2026.
Apply Here for the 2026 Freeman Fellows Internships