Okanagan College student earns prestigious international fellowship

KELOWNA–An Okanagan College business student has earned a prestigious international fellowship.

Karen Vandergaag is one of 12 young adults from across Canada to be awarded an International Youth Fellowship by the Aga Khan Foundation Canada.

Vandergaag will go to Tanzania in August, where she will work with CARE, an international non-governmental organization dedicated to disaster relief and fighting global poverty.

“My goal has always been to utilize my business degree to find work in international development,” says Vandergaag. “To know that I have launched a future in this field before I’ve even graduated feels incredible.”

Vandergaag’s work will focus on helping entrepreneurs in Tanzania finance and establish small businesses to support their families.

This trip won’t be Vandergaa’s first one abroad.

She was on a year-long Rotary exchange to Brazil in 2010, before travelling to Ethiopia and Malawi for several weeks while studying entrepreneurship in developing nations.