Nahuel Martinez, C’26

As a Sewanee student from Paraguay, Nahuel Martinez, C’26, knew firsthand what it was like to leave one’s home country and find a new place in the United States. As a politics and international and global studies major, he had an academic interest in immigration policy. But it was his summer internship with the Nashville International Center for Empowerment (NICE) that gave Martinez a new perspective on the human experience of being a refugee. 

A refugee reception and placement intern, Martinez worked longside NICE’s team of case managers to welcome new residents to the U.S. Martinez’s team helped walk refugees through the lengthy list of tasks that they needed to complete within their first 90 days in the country. The list included things like opening bank accounts, signing leases, undergoing medical exams, and enrolling in English classes. It also included a fair bit of completing and signing various documents, something that resonated with Martinez’s own experience studying in the U.S. as an international student.

A number of the refugees with whom NICE works are from Central America, so Martinez frequently found himself called upon to serve as a translator at both cultural orientations at the center and at places like banks out in Nashville. As word spread throughout NICE that he was a native Spanish speaker, the translation requests began to pile up. Martinez couldn’t have been happier to help in that capacity. “It was one of my favorite parts of the job,” he says.

The unexpected amount of face-to-face time with NICE’s clients, both inside and outside of the office, ended up being a pleasant surprise for Martinez, as it gave him an immediate view to the positive impact of the work at hand. “I’m so grateful for the ACE funding that made this internship possible,” says Martinez. “It helped me to be able to help people.”