Before college, Jessica Damicis had never left the country. Today the 23-year-old has traveled to six countries on three continents, lived and studied in Spain, interned in Kenya, and built a wastewater treatment system in Guatemala.

Although foreign cultures always appealed to her, she never had the chance to explore them before enrolling in URI’s International Engineering Program.

In 2012, Jessica spent a semester in Spain at the University of Cantabria, followed by a six-month internship at Lur Geroa, an environmental engineering company. As an intern, she digitally mapped trails that weave through mountains and provide shortcuts to residents traveling among villages.

During her stay, she quickly became immersed in the culture. Her courses were in Spanish, she ate at local restaurants, enjoyed the local entertainment, and traveled. Her 20-minute commute showed her the daily routine of the nation and her internship put her directly alongside Spanish engineers. “I felt I was really living the life of a Spanish person,” she said.

Two years later under the guidance of Associate Professor Vinka Oyanedel-Craver, Jessica was part of a team of engineering students that helped a rural school in Guatemala install a sustainable wastewater treatment system . As the only URI student fluent in Spanish, she took charge of directing the residents during construction and taught high school students about its design.

The previous summer, Jessica interned with the URI Coastal Fellows Program in Kenya, doing preliminary topographic surveys and infiltration tests for the implementation of a rainwater harvesting system. Last summer she was in France, and during her senior year she became president of the URI chapter of Engineers for a Sustainable World, which helped organize the trips to Guatemala.

With graduation now behind her, Jessica is eying a return to South America. “I would love to work in Latin America,” she said. “I’m intrigued by the culture.”