RECENT NFCACF FELLOWS

The NFCACF Fellows are an integral component to the success of our organization. Our fellows are actively involved in all areas of the organization and play a vital role in the day-to-day operations.

Our interns have assisted with planning major events such as the annual meeting, assisting with writing of white papers and news articles, updating our social media,  creating a business directory and creating a noteworthy Croatian American list.  We ask interns to commit to working a minimum of 10 hours per week during their internship.  All internship positions are currently remote. Interns must be self-starters who are able to work both independently and as part of a team.  If interested in being the next NFCACF intern, please contact us.

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Tatjana Mustac

2021

Tatjana Mustac

Tatjana Mustac is a master’s student in Biomedical Sciences on the Physiology & Biophysics track at Stony Brook University in Long Island, NY. Outside of her coursework, Tatjana works full-time for NYC Health Hospital’s COVID-19 Test Trace Corps as a Resource Navigator.

Tatjana describes herself to be a lifelong student since she is always trying to learn everything from different cultures to different fields of study outside of her traditional STEM coursework.

Tatjana enjoys embracing her Croatian heritage as an active member of the Croatian American community as a board member for the National Federation of Croatian Americans Cultural Foundation (NFCACF), a member of the Croatian Catholic Youth of NYC, and was the 2021 Rudy Perpich Fellow.

In the past, Tatjana has been a member of the Kardinal Stepinac Folklore Group of NYC, a folklore instructor at Croatian School of NYC, and as a study abroad participant at the Zagreb School of Economics and Management (ZŠEM). Additionally, Tatjana has been honored with many awards and scholarships within a variety of Croatian and Slavic organizations such as the
“40 Under 40” Croatian American title and the Future Croatian Woman Leader award.

As per her future plans, Tatjana hopes to pursue a PhD within the Biomedical Sciences and continue her journey as a lifelong student in all facets of her life. As per her first goal of her pursuit of lifelong learning alongside the Fellowship, Tatjana has been interested in writing a book about her family’s journey to the United States.

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Tatjana Mustac

2020

Mark Plavetic

Mark Plavetic is a Board Member, Social Media Committee Co-Chair, and Website Committee Editor for the National Federation for Croatian Americans Cultural Foundation (NFCACF).

In 2020, he participated as a 2020 Rudy Perpich Fellow by by coordinating with the President of NFCACF, Steve Rukavina, on research papers about Croatian and U.S. diplomatic relations, the Double Taxation Treaty, Croatian tourism, the LNG Floating Terminal Construction on the island of Krk.

Along with the Croatian Fraternal Union, Mark assisted NFCACF’s initiatives to raise money for renovations of the Museum of Arts and Crafts in Zagreb after sustaining damages from the 2020 Zagreb Earthquake. He co-authored an article with Steve Rukavina for Total Croatia News, called NFCA Relief Fund For MUO-Art Museum in Zagreb.

During his fellowship, Mark and the NFCACF helped raise over $70,000 for the MUO-Art Museum Fundraiser through social media outreach, fundraising, and sending newsletters, which helped communicate with over 15 Croatian American groups and gained 1,100 supporters.

In 2019, Mark graduated from Mount St. Mary’s University with a Bachelor of Science and a Minor in International Studies. He aspires to serve his country and fulfill his passions in history, science, economics, and foreign affairs with the U.S. Department of State as a Foreign Service Officer. He is a second-generation American with both Croatian and Latin American ancestry.

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Abby McDonald

2021

Abby McDonald

Abby McDonald grew up in Hibbing, Minnesota in a family that has always been very proud of their Croatian heritage. Abby has had the incredible opportunity to travel to Croatia on three seperate occasions.

She is currently working on her final year of undergraduate school at the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, Minnesota. Her grandfather, Bob McDonald, taught her that being a Croatian is something to be wholly proud of. Abby plans to achieve her undergraduate degree in psychology and move onto graduate school. Her parents are Joel and Carrie McDonald and she has one younger brother named Ayden, along with three pet beagles. Abby had the honor of being selected as a Rudy Perpich intern. She really enjoyed this work that she was able to do and the influence that I was able to have in both the Minnesota and National Croatian communities.

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Abby McDonald

2019

Anna Maria Sicenica

Anna Maria Sicenica was honored to be the Rudy Perpich Intern of 2019 and has stayed with the NFCA in her current role as Secretary and co-chair of the Events-Membership Committee. Her parents come from Split, Croatia, and she was fortunate to spend most summers there growing up.

She graduated from Chatham University in 2018 and currently attends Duquesne University School of Law. This summer, she is working for Justice David N. Wecht at the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, and she hopes to continue with her law career in the future.

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2018

NICHOLAS RETHMEIER

Nicholas Rethemeier, a recent graduate from St. John’s University was a summer intern shared between the Croatian Cultural Society of Minnesota and the National Federation of Croatian Americans through a Rudy Perpich Fellowship.

Two major projects that Nicholas did for us was creating a list of 50 Noteworthy Minnesotan Croatians and a Minnesota Croatian Business Directory which will be available for sale later. For the NFCA, Nicholas was instrumental in writing about the Double Taxation program and Visa Waiver programs.

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