Interning at the Milken Institute - Asia Center

Published 11/07/2022 in Scholar Travel Stipend

Written by Benjamin Levy | 11/07/2022

When I decided to take a gap year at the last minute, I was hesitant about postponing my college education but hopeful that the year ahead would prove to be worth the delay. I was not disappointed.

The variety of experiences and opportunities I had is indispensable, and I am still constantly pulling on the skills and knowledge that I’ve gained from that wild and transformative year. I managed to tackle a lot: From studying in Jerusalem, to organizing Google conferences, touring Paris, and even doing overnight guard duty working as a shepherd. One of the highlights was without a doubt the two months I spent in Singapore.

Singapore is a financial and cultural hub of Asia, sporting high racial diversity and the highest religious diversity in the world. Immediately upon arrival, I noticed the extreme diversity. There are Chinese, Malay and Indian areas, as well as areas where they all seamlessly mix without conflict or hesitation. There are many Buddhist temples, churches, mosques and synagogues, and often all quite close to each other. When walking into a hawker center, a Singaporean cultural institution, you’ll be hit with a mixture of delicious aromas wafting from foods of all origins, including Thai, Korean, Chinese, Malay, Western, Japanese, and Indian. There isn’t anywhere else in the world where can you buy a Michelin starred meal for less than $3 USD. For this reason alone, the very literal cultural mixing pot, I found Singapore to be a wild and fascinating place.

After starting my job, I realized that I would be spending time on projects just as fascinating as the setting. I was a research intern for the Milken Institute’s Asia Center, focusing on FinTech. I focused on preparing a whitepaper laying out principles to guide discussions for the ASEAN digital payments roundtable at the upcoming Asia Summit. To do so, I pored over everything from past discussion transcripts, policy briefs from various central banks, and even official reports from regulatory bodies and industry. One day I would be studying the virtual banking boom in Hong Kong; the next day the SWIFT gpi network; and yet the next day working through the Indian UPI payments system. My work was fascinating, and, to my delight, every day I was learning at a faster and faster pace.
Just getting to know my fellow interns at the Asia Center alone would have made the internship worth it. They came from places ranging from Vietnam to the U.S., equipped with knowledge of subjects ranging from Computer Science to International Relations to Economics. I learned a lot from every casual conversation, and made great friends with whom I will keep in touch as we all continue into our different years of college. The internship was a unique opportunity to make connections with some of the top students in their respective countries.

The internship program did an incredible job at mentoring its interns, hosting weekly speakers who are leaders in their fields and inviting us to attend fascinating events where we could learn and network. Since the Center is so interdisciplinary, it was the ideal place for someone like me to explore what I want to study in college: I’ve gained first-hand exposure to economics, international relations, public policy, finance, cybersecurity, and private equity. I expect this experience to pay exponential dividends during college.

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