Blog Post

Meet El Ocho Cinco, the IAVA Intern Class of Summer 2012!
Posted by Craig Spivack on June 12 2012

This summer, IAVA has taken on eight interns to help our organization's mission of reaching out to and advocating on behalf of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans across the country. We come from a variety of military and educational backgrounds, but we're united in our goal to help this generation's veterans and to further IAVA's cause. We'll be working in New York City and Washington D.C., but we'll be able to work together to make the most of our time here. You'll be able to follow our latest updates from IAVA HQ on the blog all summer long!

El Ocho Cinco?

During our orientation period, we were asked by the staff here to come up with a name for ourselves. Considering that there are eight of us, five of whom are veterans, we thought that a tried-and-true name like Ochocinco would be a good fit for us. There are also five of us who will be interning in New York, so the name is doubly-appropriate.

Alicia Richardson, Marketing
Alicia Richardson is an IAVA summer intern in Marketing. She is originally from Trinidad and Tobago, currently living in Brooklyn, NY. She is a junior, attending Brooklyn College majoring in International Business with a minor in Caribbean studies. She also served in the army for 9 years and she was deployed to Afghanistan in '05-06 as a surgical technician and reached the rank of sergeant.

Chris Brogger, Member Engagement
Chris Brogger is a student at Dickinson College in Pennsylvania, studying history and international relations. He has interned with a New York City Councilman and attended the National Security and Counterintelligence Program at Georgetown University. He will be working in the Member Engagement department during the summer. Chris lives in Brooklyn.

Ryan Nelson, Development
Ryan Nelson is from Gilbert, Arizona and joined the Military in 2004. He served four years in the U.S. Army and is currently a student at North Carolina State University where he is majoring in International Studies with a concentration in the Middle East and South Asia. Ryan will be working in the development department out of the NYC office for the summer.

Naveed Ali Shah, Advocacy
Naveed is a veteran of the U.S. Army and Operation Iraqi Freedom. He is currently pursuing a degree in Business Administration from Northern Virginia Community College in Annandale, Va.

Gilbert Nguyen, Research
Gilbert served in the army for 10 years as an infantryman and combat engineer. A veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Gilbert is currently attending Pennsylvania State University, majoring in Psychology.

Robert Redfield, Advocacy
Robert spent 7 years as an active duty aviation officer where he deployed twice in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. His assignments include: OH- 58 Kiowa Warrior Platoon Leader, Assistant Operations Officer, Squadron Service Support Officer, and Troop Commander.

After leaving the Army in 2010 Robert completed his Masters of Public Administration at California State University Dominguez Hills. He is currently a student at California State University Los Angeles working towards an M.A. in Political Science. Robert will be working this summer in the D.C. office as a legislative advocacy intern.

Gretchen Andersen, Communications
Gretchen is a rising senior at the University of Pittsburgh studying English Writing and Political Science with a History minor. She will be the communications intern this summer…and is very excited! Gretchen has interned in several media outlets before coming to Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, such as NBC Philadelphia and CBS Pittsburgh, as well as newspapers and a magazine.

Craig Spivack, Graphic & Web Design
Craig Spivack is IAVA’s summer intern in Graphic & Web Design. He is from Long Island and currently attends NYU, where he is majoring in Screenwriting and has completed a minor in Web Programming & Applications.

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