Intern Spotlight: Dimitra Rallis
Special thanks to Learning Life intern, Ehvyn McDaniels, for helping to write this profile.
Hailing from Elmira Heights, NY, Dimitra Rallis is currently a rising senior at Georgetown University, double majoring in English and government, and very active in extracurricular activities. And somehow, she manages a 3.8 GPA!
In her three years thus far at Georgetown, Dimitra has worked as a residence hall office assistant, a student-alumni liaison to engage alumni in their alma mater, a board member of the Georgetown chapter of Habitat for Humanity, and a mentor to first-year students. She also participates in formal debates on social, political and literacy topics as part of Georgetown’s Philodemic Society, and has become a “swing dancing enthusiast.”
Dimitra recently returned from a semester abroad, studying at Georgetown’s Villa le Balze, located in Fiesole, Italy, a village just outside of Florence. Reflecting on her time abroad, Dimitra describes her experience as “not what I expected, but everything I could have wanted.” By the end of the semester, she felt she had truly experienced life as an Italian resident rather than a tourist, having shared meals and quality time out of class with Italian professors and students.
Last summer, Dimitra interned for U.S. Representative Tom Reed (R-NY). As an intern, she communicated with constituents, conducted research on legislative matters, and composed statements for the Congressional Record. This summer, Dimitra started interning with Learning Life soon after finishing her junior year.
Struck by her intelligence and ability to communicate, Learning Life founder, Paul Lachelier, assigned Dimitra from the start to a challenging project: developing research and expert-based answers to two “Big Questions.” Learning Life’s Big Questions Series gathers research and brief answers from experts to important questions of wide public interest. Launched in 2013 with three questions on terrorism (How big a threat is terrorism? What are the underlying causes of terrorism? How does news media reporting shape terrorism and public perception of terrorism?), Dimitra is now pursuing two other questions on the minds of many people: what makes for success, and what makes for long, happy marriages? To develop answers to these Big Questions, Dimitra has been gathering interesting research findings and resources, and interviewing experts on those questions, which is no small challenge given the breadth and density of the scientific research on these questions, and the difficulty in gathering responses from busy experts. Stay tuned for Dimitra’s finalized Big Questions coming soon!
Dimitra has also helped grow our number of “likes” (supporters) on Learning Life’s Facebook page. Currently, she is developing a series of template placemats that will feature answers to the Big Questions she is pursuing and future questions too. Most recently, she and another Georgetown student and Learning Life intern, Ehvyn McDaniels (who, coincidentally, helped draft this profile), are developing a new batch of Learning Life infographics, embedding arresting facts in original photos they take. Attached to this profile is their very first infographic. Stay tuned for more of their infographics on Learning Life’s Pinterest page, and our other social media pages!
When asked why she decided to volunteer with Learning Life, Dimitra Rallis simply said, “I want to put good things into the world. I believe that volunteering with Learning Life is a great way for me to live up to that goal.” Dimitra has gone above and beyond to achieve this goal with Learning Life, and we are grateful for her smart and creative contributions. We are confident she will continue to put good things into the world.
To learn more about interning or volunteering with Learning Life and other ways you can help, contact us at email@learninglife.info.