Tag: Student Perspective

This is the next in a series of posts by recipients of the 2018 Career Services Summer Funding Grant. We’ve asked funding recipients to reflect on their summer experiences and talk about the industries in which they’ve been spending their summer. You can read the entire series here.

This entry is by Sophia Clark, COL ’19

This summer I had the opportunity to intern at Los Angeles-based women’s empowerment magazine, ENTITY Magazine. As an English-African Studies double-major with hopes to go into media or publishing after graduation, the skills I learned at ENTITY complimented my academic pursuits, in turn making me a stronger writer. First, while at ENTITY I met and learned from some of the most amazing women. From one-on-one conversations with ENTITY’s CEO Jennifer Schwab, one of the founders of Sierra Club Green Home, to hearing Amel Najjar speak about Children of War, a foundation focused on providing life-saving surgery to children in war-torn areas, these women are real-life examples of how an unconventional path can lead you to your calling. Secondly, the hard-skills that ENTITY taught me are invaluable because they are skills that are not traditionally taught in a college curriculum but are imperative to entering a multi-media work environment.

One of the most influential aspects of the internship at ENTITY was learning the intricacies of Adobe Creative Cloud—namely, Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and Adobe XD. Prior to ENTITY I had never touched any of these programs and learning the fundamentals of each has given me what I believe is unique insight into the other half of writing—visuals and design. Being familiar with Adobe Creative Cloud has allowed me to better understand the process of writing for an online platform, where photos, infographics, and imagery add incredible value to a piece. To think that I can not only write an article, but also create the visuals exactly as I imagined them, is powerful.

Along with learning how to package an article from start to finish, ENTITY trained us to write articles that are search engine optimization (SEO) compatible. This training was incredible because it showed us as interns what to do to create an article that will be found, and read, in the major search engines.

My time at ENTITY not only introduced me to inspirational women who are industry leaders, but also helped bridge a gap in my formal education that will help me in my post-graduation endeavors. As an English-African Studies double major I have had a lot of experience writing in an academic capacity. However, my studies had not taught me some of the most necessary skills for entering an industry that is largely online. Learning how to write using SEO means that articles I write going forward are more likely to be found, and read using traditional search engines. Secondly, nowadays writers need to not only be able to write but to also edit, copyedit, photograph and create a completed article within an incredibly short amount of time. Learning how to create visuals that are attractive and publishable is vital to being marketable going forward. ENTITY was able to bridge those gaps, and for that I am thankful.

This is the next in a series of posts by recipients of the 2018 Career Services Summer Funding Grant. We’ve asked funding recipients to reflect on their summer experiences and talk about the industries in which they’ve been spending their summer. You can read the entire series here.

This entry is by Fiona Jensen-Hitch, COL ’19

This summer, I spent six and a half weeks in Perú. Five of these weeks were in the town of Nuñoa, nestled between two short stays in Cusco in the beginning and end of my trip; the first to allow our group to acclimatize to the altitude, and the second to allow us to release from field work mode before returning to the Unites States.

Nuñoa is a town of about 4,000 people, sitting above 13,000 ft elevation among rolling golden hills. The next biggest town is an hour away, but people live scattered all around and in between the two towns; this is the campo, or countryside. I left Philadelphia’s rising temperatures for winter in Perú, and the high elevation of Nuñoa meant that most of my bag was stuffed with long underwear, wool socks, and fleece.

I traveled to Perú to work with a Penn Anthropology professor, Dr. Morgan Hoke, along with a few other students. Nuñoa has been visited by anthropologists since the 1960s; originally, much of the main interest was in how the human body adapted to high altitude. Our team, the “Nuñoa Anthropological Project,” was in Nuñoa first and foremost to begin a new research project and collect data. However, we were also here to experience what doing responsible field work means, to learn about the community, to speak with them. I also hoped to ascertain whether field work is something I might decide to pursue either academically or professionally. And of course, I was able to practice my Spanish speaking skills. Fortunately, the people of Nuñoa forgave my struggles with vocabulary and tense, often offering the words I was looking for.

We collected biological and ethnographic data for a research project centering around recent nutritional and food changes in the area, and how this is affecting the lives of the people in and around the area – their microbiome health, immunological health, food security, etc. We collected data such as anthropometric measurements, blood spots, iron and blood glucose levels, fecal samples, and breastmilk samples. We also gave every participant an interview centered around their food intake, income, work, family, food security, and other lifestyle information. Throughout our time in Nuñoa, our time was divided into attending participants and recruiting new participants. Every participant was compensated with a food package, as well as the results of their tests—both those that were immediate, and those that will need to be conveyed in a few months’ time.

The summer was one of the most incredible, complete, and quite incredulous experiences of my life. I now know that whether it is through grad school or not, I want to work with and for communities, to understand everything that affects a person’s life and health, and my career goals are now keeping this in sight. I am grateful to the Career Services Summer Funding program for supporting me in this work.

This is the next in a series of posts by recipients of the 2018 Career Services Summer Funding Grant. We’ve asked funding recipients to reflect on their summer experiences and talk about the industries in which they’ve been spending their summer. You can read the entire series here.

This entry is by Caroline Scown, COL ’19, recipient of the Turner Schulman Human Rights Internship Award

I found the Youth Development Internship at the International Rescue Committee (IRC) office in Maryland after my spring “study abroad” in Washington D.C. sparked an interest in the Syrian civil war and world refugee crisis. The internship represented a perfect overlap between my passion for education and my newfound interest. Unfortunately, the position was unpaid and like many Penn students, I felt a tension between finding a financially stable position and pursuing non-profit work through an unpaid internship. The Turner Schulman Endowed Human Rights Internship Award was an incredibly welcome help in paying for rent, transportation, and daily expenses so I could pursue the IRC internship.

For the first month of the internship, I worked with my team to plan a summer school program for high school students from refugee families who had been recently resettled in the area. Given that many students who flee conflict experience traumatic gaps in their education, the program intended to help students shore up their academic foundations, gain confidence in a school setting, and better integrate into the local community. I was assigned with developing the curricular standards and learning goals for each of our math and English classes. It was an incredible opportunity to channel my personal passion for education and curriculum development through a well-established organization like the IRC, where I knew I would be impacting the lives of many students.

During that initial month we also visited each resettled family to recruit potential students in what were some of the most eye-opening experiences of the summer. Learning about families’ individual journeys to resettlement in the U.S. gave me a more nuanced and complex understanding of the broader world of conflict-driven displacement and refugee resettlement. I know that these stories will deepen my study of global conflict and resettlement at Penn.

The majority of the internship consisted of implementing the summer program alongside my IRC co-workers, volunteer teaching assistants, and local partners. Every day I taught and developed lesson plans for English and math classes. I taught extracurricular classes like Dance and Global Leadership, where I had the chance to share and exchange personal passions with my students. I also coordinated daily logistics and managed partnerships with local stakeholders like the county bus system, the Capital Area Food Bank, and our host high school.

As I start my senior year at Penn and begin to plan my career, this internship at the IRC will undoubtedly shape my path forward. I plan to pursue post-graduation opportunities that will allow me to connect with students and design curricula. I gained invaluable exposure to the key facets of running non-profit programming such as establishing and maintaining partnerships, navigating the bureaucracy and paperwork involved, and balancing idealistic aspirations with reality. I added another dimension to my academic understanding of human rights and refugee issues. Essentially, this summer has helped me narrow in on my career goals and has given me a greater handle on the experiences and skills I need to achieve them.

This is the next in a series of posts by recipients of the 2018 Career Services Summer Funding Grant. We’ve asked funding recipients to reflect on their summer experiences and talk about the industries in which they’ve been spending their summer. You can read the entire series here.

This entry is by Caroline Scown, COL ’19, recipient of the Turner Schulman Human Rights Internship Award

I found the Youth Development Internship at the International Rescue Committee (IRC) office in Maryland after my spring “study abroad” in Washington D.C. sparked an interest in the Syrian civil war and world refugee crisis. The internship represented a perfect overlap between my passion for education and my newfound interest. Unfortunately, the position was unpaid and like many Penn students, I felt a tension between finding a financially stable position and pursuing non-profit work through an unpaid internship. The Turner Schulman Endowed Human Rights Internship Award was an incredibly welcome help in paying for rent, transportation, and daily expenses so I could pursue the IRC internship.

For the first month of the internship, I worked with my team to plan a summer school program for high school students from refugee families who had been recently resettled in the area. Given that many students who flee conflict experience traumatic gaps in their education, the program intended to help students shore up their academic foundations, gain confidence in a school setting, and better integrate into the local community. I was assigned with developing the curricular standards and learning goals for each of our math and English classes. It was an incredible opportunity to channel my personal passion for education and curriculum development through a well-established organization like the IRC, where I knew I would be impacting the lives of many students.

During that initial month we also visited each resettled family to recruit potential students in what were some of the most eye-opening experiences of the summer. Learning about families’ individual journeys to resettlement in the U.S. gave me a more nuanced and complex understanding of the broader world of conflict-driven displacement and refugee resettlement. I know that these stories will deepen my study of global conflict and resettlement at Penn.

The majority of the internship consisted of implementing the summer program alongside my IRC co-workers, volunteer teaching assistants, and local partners. Every day I taught and developed lesson plans for English and math classes. I taught extracurricular classes like Dance and Global Leadership, where I had the chance to share and exchange personal passions with my students. I also coordinated daily logistics and managed partnerships with local stakeholders like the county bus system, the Capital Area Food Bank, and our host high school.

As I start my senior year at Penn and begin to plan my career, this internship at the IRC will undoubtedly shape my path forward. I plan to pursue post-graduation opportunities that will allow me to connect with students and design curricula. I gained invaluable exposure to the key facets of running non-profit programming such as establishing and maintaining partnerships, navigating the bureaucracy and paperwork involved, and balancing idealistic aspirations with reality. I added another dimension to my academic understanding of human rights and refugee issues. Essentially, this summer has helped me narrow in on my career goals and has given me a greater handle on the experiences and skills I need to achieve them.

This is the next in a series of posts by recipients of the 2018 Career Services Summer Funding Grant. We’ve asked funding recipients to reflect on their summer experiences and talk about the industries in which they’ve been spending their summer. You can read the entire series here.

This entry is by Ha Tran, COL ’19.

This summer, I spent my time interning at a full-service advertisement agency in Washington, D.C. whose focus areas include political campaigns, issue communications, and corporate social impact. I was initially attracted to apply for GMMB because of their focus on creating positive social change and their long history of electing progressive candidates, including Barack Obama and Nelson Mandela. I was placed in the media team, and my most of my days were spent tracking competitive spending by (conservative) rival candidates across the country. My races were mostly gubernatorial races, but I also had some Senate races. It was illuminating to see how much the campaigns were spending on ads and helped me understand the scale on which political campaigns exist in America.

Compared to the last agency I was an intern for, GMMB felt huge. Two summer ago, I interned at a boutique digital marketing agency with around 10 employees. GMMB had over 200. I felt like a small fish in a big pond on my first day walking around unfamiliar faces, and it didn’t help that I started a week later than all the other interns. However, my nerves were quickly dispelled once I realized how warm and nice the office culture was. Everyone I met was incredibly helpful, and it didn’t take long for me to feel up to speed with training for my job. The larger size of GMMB also meant that my internship program had more structure to it. Interns had the pleasure of attending informational sessions that taught us how other teams within the agency functioned which broadened our understanding of how GMMB worked, along with informational lectures by public figures working in progressive spaces such as immigration reform and LGBT rights. We also worked a collective intern project which was to be presented to the whole company at the end of our internship, and it proved to be an invaluable experience. My team’s prompt was to create a campaign that would elect officials passionate about common sense gun reform in key swing states.

My favorite part of working at GMMB was meeting so many people who were passionate about their jobs. Though it wasn’t always clear how your work directly translated to positive change, I think that everyone at GMMB internalized the ethos of GMMB and that helped everyone feel the passion for their work. I want to thank Career Services for helping me pursue this opportunity! Their support helped me pay for housing and food during my time in D.C., and I was able to focus on my work without stressing about finances. Thank you helping develop my career!