Dassler Internship

About the Internship

WIDA offers the annual Dassler Internship for undergraduate students with an interest in multilingual learners and professional learning. This internship is in memory of Troy Dassler, a beloved professional learning specialist and scientist at WIDA, who died unexpectedly in December 2020. Interns will participate in WIDA professional learning events, design projects, and collaborate with the professional learning coordinator’s office on events and projects that focus on multilingual learners and their success.

This internship will provide training and experience in moderating webinars for a national consortium of 41 states, territories and federal agencies. The intern will work closely with the Education Learning and Research team to provide professional learning to support educators working with multilingual students and their families.

About Troy Dassler

From 2013-2020, Troy Dassler worked at WIDA where he shared his joy of discovery, knowledge of language and teaching, and his continual laughter. Troy had found his perfect fit at WIDA, where he is remembered daily for his knowledge and abilities in science, language development and education. Troy brought smiles to everyone with his hijinks and antics in the office. He stayed at WIDA, until his death, adhering to the WIDA values of innovation, service, the Can Do Philosophy, collaboration and social justice.

Troy worked as a professional learning specialist, connecting with educators in Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Amsterdam, Brussels, Lima, Taipei, Seoul and other locations around the world. Domestically, state department leaders for English learners consistently requested that Troy visit their state to facilitate workshops with their educators working with multilingual learners. He facilitated more workshops than any other professional learning specialist at WIDA. Troy was a force to be reckoned with when it came to equity, multilingual learners and science.

He was a member of the WIDA Making Science Multilingual team who worked in partnership with the National Science Teachers Association. He was a subject matter expert who designed multiple workshops at WIDA, including: Engaging Multilingual Learners in Science, Educators Collaborating to engage Multilingual Learners, School Leaders: Ensuring Equity for Multilingual Learners, Planning with the WIDA ELD Standards Framework, and Doing and Talking STEM – just to name a few.

Meet Our 2024-25 Intern

Hali Jama is a senior at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, pursuing degrees in Marketing, International Business, and Developmental Economics. Born in Somalia and raised in Minnesota, she immigrated to the U.S. in 2011. Her journey as an ESL student, learning English from the third grade in a new country, has instilled in her a deep appreciation for the challenges and triumphs of language acquisition. Fluent in three languages and proficient in two more, Hali is passionate about fostering global connections through language. She is eager to perfect her Arabic and begin learning Spanish.

This past summer, Hali interned with IBM, where she sharpened her marketing and strategy skills. She aspires to join IBM full-time after graduation, aiming to leverage her corporate experience before returning to Somaliland. Her long-term dream is to establish schools in Somaliland, focusing on empowering young girls through education. Hali also envisions traveling the world to build more schools in underdeveloped countries.

Driven by her commitment to educational equity and personal development, she looks forward to participating in webinars and discussions exploring the intersection of language with topics such as disability, environment, and cultural identity, hoping to make a meaningful impact in both education and communication.

Hali views her opportunity to work with WIDA and educators who teach English learners as a full-circle moment, in a way, reconnecting with teachers who once helped her as an ESL student. This work holds special significance for her, and she takes great pride in being able to give back to the educators like the ones who shaped her early academic journey.