Levente Szabados is spending the next two months interning for the Rail Passengers Association (formerly known as NARP) and taking courses at George Mason University at the summer program of The Fund for American Studies (TFAS) in the framework of the Széll Kálmán Fellowship with the help of HIF.
Levente Szabados
Born and raised in Budapest, Hungary, Levente recently received a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration and Management at Corvinus University of Budapest. During his studies, he was an active participant in campus life taking part in extracurricular activities in student associations and the Students’ Union.
He was an exchange student host, and has been the president of student government at his university for a year and a half, where he gained numerous experiences in leadership, policy forming, and organizational behavior. Previously interning at PwC’s management consulting department, Levente worked on solving unstructured problems. He was also worked as a cook at a summer camp in Naples, Maine.
“I am very grateful for this scholarship opportunity and I am planning to learn as much from the American know-how as I can, so that I can take all the useful knowledge back home.”
Levente first encountered the railway industry when he became a management consultant intern working on the strategy planning of the National Association of Railroad Passengers, a Hungarian railway company, and analyzed how its business processes could be improved. Demonstrating his devotion in the field, he took this project earnestly from the very beginning because of the significance of the passenger rail in Hungary.
“With this work I focused on creating a more functioning transportation opportunity for people. In a similar fashion to the US, the rail-based transportation is indispensable and deeply needed to fill gaps between the aviation and road transportation.”
Building on his professional experience in this field, this summer Levente is going to be an intern at Rail Passengers Association. The organization’s main goals are to improve and expand conventional intercity Passenger train service, support startup one high speed rail line, increase connectivity among all forms of transportation, and ensure the safety of trains and passengers.
“Nowadays passenger rail needs all the support it can get in a developed country too, and I am thankful that I can be a part of its development. During my time here, I look forward to working on different types of projects and getting to know the way passengers rail operate in the US.”
Besides interning at NARP, Levente is also a visiting student at George Mason University’s Institute on Comparative Political and Economic Systems taking two courses with the aim of generating knowledge on the methods and perspectives of the American higher education.
The Summer Széll Kálmán Public Policy Fellowship is a full scholarship for students from Hungary to participate in The Fund for American Studies summer programs in Washington DC focusing on economics and public policy.
The two month summer program includes an internship placement in Washington DC, academic credit from George Mason University, housing in the heart of DC on George Washington University’s campus, a variety of guest lectures and briefings, as well as opportunities for professional development and networking. The scholarship runs from June 2 to July 27, 2018 and covers full tuition and a living stipend for the duration of the program.