Kasie Kelln: SEIDO Student Officer turned Medical Student Looks Back on International Business Exper
University of Saskatchewan medical student Kasie Kelln used her time as an undergraduate to gain plenty of international experience.
“I first got involved with student programs on campus like University of Saskatchewan’s Hanlon Centre for International Business Studies, and the Saskatchewan Economic & International Development Officer Program (SEIDO), etc. when I attended Global Vision’s Youth Forum in Toronto,” Kelln remembers. Soon after, she was asked by the SEIDO Program to give a seminar on curbing the rates of tobacco use to delegates from China who were interested in the relationship between health and the economy.
In early 2011, Kelln attended a Forum for International Trade Training (FITT) conference in Ottawa, along with three other SEIDO Student Officers and two University of Saskatchewan faculty members. “We were looking at ways FITT could partner with the U of S and to offer their international business programs as training modules to the SEIDO Program itself,” she says. “We went to learn more about FITT and to talk with people to see how we could best set that up.”
The partnership has proven successful, with the SEIDO Program now offers several FITT’s Going Global workshops on campus in partnership with the Hanlon Centre.
Along with fellow-SEIDO Student Officers Andrew Davidson, Patrick Simpson, and Edward tang, Kelln assisted the SEIDO Visiting Consul-General Series in hosting the Brazilian Ambassador Sergio Florencio during his visit to the University of Saskatchewan in May 2011. “He was really excited for potential business ventures between Saskatchewan and Brazil because both of us are doing very well despite the recession,” she says. The Consul-General flew from Vancouver to Saskatchewan, as a guest of the Hanlon Centre and the Saskatchewan Economic & International Development Officer Program, to address UofS MBA students before their International Business Study Tour in June. While here, he also networked with several of the university’s faculty as well as government and corporate partners of the SEIDO Program.
A few months later, Kelln made her first of two visits to Cambodia; this one partially sponsored by the university. “I have now travelled twice to Cambodia participating not only in health programs but also looking at the most effective business practices of NGOs,” she says. “In particular we examined the social enterprise model, which not only provided much needed support and training to the people but also was self-sustainable because of the business aspect of their program.”
Kelln will be continuing her international experience and relationship as a SEIDO Student Officer representative to the G20 Youth Summit in Saint-Petersburg, Russia, from the 21st to 25th of August 2013. “The G20 youth summit will allow me to establish an intercultural dialogue with experts from around the world and give me an opportunity to build business partnerships and friendships,” she says. “I am also keen on becoming aware of Canada’s current position in international relations and what that means to future global health ventures that I plan on pursuing.”
* Please note this article has been updated to reflect the new name change of the “Saskatchewan Economic & International Development Officer Program” (“SEIDO”), from its former program name as the “Saskatchewan International Trade Officer Program” (“SITO”).
The Saskatchewan Economic & International Development Officer Program (SEIDO) allows university/college and high schools throughout Saskatchewan the opportunity build global business knowledge, related skills development, and training opportunities for a career in global business, international trade and development. For more information, please contact Nicholas Kokkastamapoulos (SEIDO Program Coordinator) at the Haultain Institute for Global Business Studies at nick.kokkas@seidoprogram.org or nkokkas@haultaininstitute.org or by telephone at (306) 715-2260. Thank you.
