London is one of the world’s most dynamic cities, and that’s reflected in the opportunities afforded to Notre Dame students who study there. But it’s more than just the coursework that immerses students in London’s culture, history, and political landscape. Students mark achievement here by what they’re learning outside of the traditional classroom as well. Below are four stories of students who are gaining experience and knowledge for their careers even as they learn more about what it means to be global citizens.
Bupe Lughano Kabaghe
Parliament
Bupe Lughano Kabaghe aspires to the top political job in her native Zambia. To gain experience in the parliamentary system, she interned at the House of Commons in the fall of 2022. What she couldn’t plan for was the up-and-down world of British politics during that time. The UK had three prime ministers in the course of about six weeks, which gave Bupe the opportunity to learn about the necessity of maintaining a functioning government even during times of massive change.
Theo Rauch
Cleveland Clinic London
Theo Rauch interned at Cleveland Clinic London, gaining a close-up view of the UK’s National Health Service (NHS), a single-payer system that operates quite differently than the US model. As Brian Donley ’86, former Cleveland Clinic London CEO, says, the goal is to merge the best of the UK’s system with the best of the US structure. Theo is helping in that endeavor primarily by focusing on the financial aspects of the health care industry.
Gehrig Smalstig
Chelsea Football Club
Gehrig Smalstig knows he wants to be in the business side of the sports world. This led him to seek out an internship with a global brand in the world’s most popular sport: Chelsea FC of the Premier League. Gehrig is analyzing data to present a return-on-investment case for potential partnerships for the club while taking in the full Chelsea experience.
MacKenzie Isaac
Rhodes Scholar
MacKenzie Isaac is Notre Dame’s most recent Rhodes Scholar. She’s studying the effects of the practice of redlining in the health care system. The term “redlining” is synonymous with any kind of racial discrimination, but stems from a period when government maps drew literal red lines around predominantly Black neighborhoods and deemed them risky investments. MacKenzie is focused especially on her hometown of Indianapolis and says that studying the topic in the UK is challenging her paradigm of what it means to be healthy in the American sense of the word.