Category Archives: Internship Experience

Why not try a farming internship?

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I grew up in the suburbs. I went camping a lot as a kid and we had a garden for many years, but it wasn’t until after I graduated college that I decided my next step was to be apply for a farming internship.

I had heard about World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF) before and ordered a U.S. directory from their website. WWOOF connects folks looking to live and work on farms with farmers throughout the world. Most farms offer room and board, some farms offer a stipend or wage. Workers stay for a couple weeks or a whole season.

I was looking for a farming internship in the middle of the winter–the right time for farmers to pay attention to anything other than farming. I contacted a few farms in Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland and West Virginia, but ultimately decided to post an inquiry on the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture (PASA) website. I received a handful of responses from farmers searching for helpers, including one from Jen Montgomery at Blackberry Meadows Farm in Natrona Heights, PA.

Blackberry Meadows is an 85-acre organic farm not far from Pittsburgh and 2009 was the first year completely under new management/ownership of a group of Slippery Rock University graduates. For my farming internship I worked the whole season (April to November) and lived in the basement “apartment” of the farm house. I lived there for free, ate the best food on the daily, learned all new skills, made great friends, and got connected to the local sustainability movement in Pittsburgh. I wasn’t making any money directly, but my basic needs were taken care of, and living on a farm removed me from most pressures to spend money.

Rayden trying to experience a farming experience

Rayden Sorock poses with a giant ball of row cover, Blackberry Meadows Farm, 2009

Some weeks I worked more hours, some less. The work is physically hard, sometimes it is highly challenging mentally, as the frustrations brought on by bugs, weeds and weather are tough to get over. But I got to work outside, which in my opinion is lovely even when the weather is bad. The work varied every day–always something new to seed, or plant, or harvest, or prepare for the next round of growing. And as someone interested in communities, sustainability, food security, and the environment, I was able to see what it’s like on the ground (in the dirt) in the whole “green movement”. I have a completely new appreciation for farmers, for the land, for the weather and for animals. I had been some variation of vegetarian for 10 years, and yet I helped our poultry farmer-friends process (a.k.a kill and gut) chickens. I wonder how many people would still eat meat if they had to raise, kill and process an animal for every ham sandwich. Having such a direct connection to food is a luxury not many of us have, being isolated in suburbs or cities and equating food with sterile supermarkets and impersonal global companies.

I would do another farming internship for sure. I am still friends with Jen and the folks at Blackberry Meadows. I get such a strong feeling of appreciation from them for the work that I did. The connections I made there have led to nearly every other job I’ve taken in Pittsburgh since 2009. Occasionally I still get the chance to volunteer for them. My whole relationship to food and land and work is different. I encourage you, if you haven’t considered it already, to try a farming internship, live somewhere new, live small, live simply and take the time to figure out what comes next.

Links:
Blackberry Meadows Farm http://blackberrymeadows.wordpress.com/
WWOOF http://wwoof.org/
PASA http://www.pasafarming.org/

Julie Ciaramella: Website and Social Media Intern

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Julie Ciaramella shares with the Regional Internship Center her experience as the Three Rivers Community Foundation’s Website and Social Media Intern.

Website and Social Media Intern for Three Rivers Community Foundation

I was the Website and Social Media Intern for Three Rivers Community Foundation (TRCF) from May 2010 to this past summer, when I stayed on in a consultant role to assist them with any website needs. I found out about the internship through the Journalism and Multimedia Arts Department at Duquesne University, where I was studying for my master’s degree in Media Arts and Technology. After reading about TRCF’s focus on social justice issues, I knew that I wanted to apply for the internship.

“I have a bachelor’s degree in journalism, so the internship gave me a chance to use both my writing and web skills.”

Julie Ciaramella

Educational background and skills developed

I’ve always been interested in web design and usability, and within the past few years, social media. I have a bachelor’s degree in journalism, so the internship gave me a chance to use both my writing and web skills. It was exactly the sort of internship I was looking for. Working at TRCF gave me hands-on experience in managing a website, providing input on usability to web developers, and maintaining social media accounts. It also gave me an opportunity to collaborate with other interns and learn from them.

Valuable internship experience helps in job search later

I graduated from Duquesne in May 2011 with my master’s degree, and I’m happy to say my experience at TRCF inspired me to look for jobs in the non-profit world. I was recently hired to be the Web/New Media Writer at the American Veterinary Medical Association, a not-for-profit association that is the voice of the veterinary profession and animal welfare issues. My job includes maintaining and updating the association’s social media accounts and writing for their blogs. I wouldn’t be here now if it weren’t for my experience at TRCF.

Overall experience

TRCF allowed me to improve my own skills and learn from others in an environment where I felt like what I was doing made a difference. Everyone there was focused on improving the lives of people and bringing change to our community. It inspired me to become more active in the causes I believe in, and I’m grateful for the experience.

Graphic Design Intern Speaks Out!

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Dawn Lawson, a graphic design intern at the Three Rivers Community Foundation, shares with us her summer internship experience.

Dawn Lawson

Dawn Lawson

I worked at the Three Rivers Community Foundation (TRCF) this past summer as a graphic design intern.

Background

I’ve always had a passion for illustration. So, I decided to major in Digital Media Arts: Multimedia Development to not only allow for myself a creative outlet, but also to acquire other creative skills that I’ve gained besides those of illustration, such as: video editing and web design. I started pursuing career paths and experiences leaning towards what I love to do most, illustrate.

Graphic Design Internship Tasks

Most of the work I did for the TRCF entailed designing business cards, creating brochures, and designing event forms, such as those for the Convergence. The Convergence consisted of two main events open to the public, covering social issues to address in the community: the Building Change Film Festival and the main Convergence for Social Justice.

I often sketched designs I wanted to make and then illustrated final versions of them to present to the individuals I worked with. I enjoyed the collaborative process, getting feedback from others so that I could produce better work for them.

Overall Experience

More importantly though, the experience of working with my intern coordinator and fellow interns of different backgrounds is what made the experience for me unique. What I liked most about my job was that the intern coordinator always made sure that each intern not only did the kind of work pertaining to what they wanted to get out of the experience, but work that contributed to the foundation’s mission as well: “Building Change: Not Charity.”

I resonated with that statement, because there’s emphasis on the act of “building”–taking initiative. Even though the meaning of the statement wasn’t always stated explicitly to me, I got the gist of it by observing the different roles everyone played, how they carried themselves, the backgrounds that they were coming from, the events and social issues that the foundation addresses every day.

Building Change: Not Charity

“Building Change: Not Charity”, by my knowledge from the internship, means that people should come together as a community, initiating social change to the point where charity isn’t needed. Everyone in need will have their needs met according to what the social structure allows. If the currently set structure prohibits the few who are in need due to the many who are stable, then the structure is to be changed to make room for those few to be stable. I have learned that the word need can cover a lot more ground than just necessities. There is the need of acceptance, of respect, appreciation of one another, gratitude, justice, and much more.

Larger Impact

My experience at TRCF showed me something that life has often taught me. That is, what I do, no matter how seemingly insignificant, has meaning in some way, maybe even to someone. What also came as a big motivator for me to produce quality work was how former interns and workers still come back to the foundation, giving support when they can. I saw how one devoting him or herself to their community, the foundation exemplifies via becoming a voice for many and being a community of workers tackling the same social issues. This past summer was a very humbling experience.

Accounting Internship to Jump Start your Career

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On the second post of the series about accounting careers, Jason Hardy tells us about his accounting internship experience and how it helped him to get his dream job.

RIC: Can you tell us about the accounting  internship you completed in the summer of 2005?

JH: The summer accounting internship that I obtained with the help of the RIC, was with a multi-national company that dealt with environmental remediation and construction supplies.  I assisted a number of the personnel in the accounting department with their day to day responsibilities, assisting with both large and small projects.  The people that I worked with in the accounting department went out of their way to teach me about their day-to-day responsibilities and I was able to get a good idea of what it would be like to work full-time in such an environment.  During this accounting internship, I was exposed to various areas of the business and felt that the experience was extremely valuable in starting my career.

RIC: Did you complete another accounting internship?

JH: In addition to my internship through the RIC, I had a previous accounting internship with a public accounting firm in Pittsburgh.  This internship was obtained through the local accounting consortium in which my college participated.  All accounting students were able to submit a resume through the career services office; these resumes were then sent to the employers who were participating in the consortium.  The employers would review the resumes and select which candidates they would like to interview for their accounting internship program.  Based upon these responses, each applicant would be informed which employers were interested in meeting for an interview, and on the date of the consortium, all applicants and employers would meet at a local hotel or conference center to conduct all of the interviews.  It was conceivable that each applicant could have multiple interviews in a single day, resulting in multiple offers for jobs or internships.

RIC: Do you think having some accounting internship experience helped you with your career? How so?

JH: I definitely think that my accounting internship experiences helped me in my career.  One of the most difficult adjustments coming out of college is getting used to the working world.  Having internships gets you into the correct mind-set and prepares you for what it is like to have a full-time job in a given industry or field.  The most important things that I gained from my internships were learning to interact with co-workers and clients and simply being exposed to a professional work environment.  Each accounting internship gave me a small glimpse of what my day-to-day life would be like if I were to work in these industries and at these companies.  It is also possible to receive full-time job offers from your employers during an internship.  This was not the result in my case, but my internship experiences were critical in obtaining my job and enabled me to go on numerous interviews and receive and accept a job offer months before I graduated from college.  Working in an accounting internship position will be challenging as you transition from college to your career, however I feel that internship experiences are invaluable to getting your “dream job”.  It may also be necessary to take accounting internships that offer little or no pay depending upon the availability of available positions in your field as internships can be very competitive.  Despite the temporary difficulties that will result from taking an internship that is either low-paying or does not offer any form of compensation, the future payoffs for your career will far out-weigh the challenges.

People Power Drives New Voices Pittsburgh Women of Color for Reproductive Justice

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La’Tasha D. Mayes, founder and director of New Voices Pittsburgh Women of Color for Reproductive Justice, shares her thoughts on long-term organizational goals, internship programs and people power.

People power is the fuel that moves our mission and vision for Reproductive Justice and Human Rights in the Greater Pittsburgh Region. Each day, our board, staff, members, volunteers, funders and donors invest in our work and make it possible for New Voices Pittsburgh to create a sustainable organization and an effective local social change movement.

New Voices Pittsburgh

Over the last 7 years, we have had the opportunity to host interns through the Regional Internship Center, colleges and universities career services for undergraduate and federal community service work-study for graduate students, fellowships, apprenticeships and community-based youth employment programs. Interns found our work interesting and compelling and – for the most part – hosting interns was a fair experience.

Somewhere along the way, our organizational leadership began to feel and it became evident that perhaps we did not have the operational or supervisory capacity to manage undergraduate interns. The nature of our work as community organizers and activists require passion for social justice, amazing interpersonal skills coupled with a dynamic personality and an ability to create solutions. Unfortunately, we were not able to find this caliber of intern at the undergraduate level. We shifted our focus to graduate interns who could make a commitment to specific projects and work extremely independently which worked well.

Serving women of color ages 12-35 across identities of race, class, genders, sexual orientation, culture, we recognize the need to create leadership opportunities. With our Strategic Plan, we now understand that our struggle has been infrastructure with issues of planning, supervision and evaluation. I am looking forward to attending the “Creating a Successful Internship Program” workshop at the Regional Internship Center today to get some practical ideas and innovative strategies to reintegrate youth 14-24 and undergraduate interns back into New Voices Pittsburgh.

[Editor's note:  This article is part of a two-part series and was written before New Voices Pittsburgh attended a special "Creating a Successful Internship Program" workshop for organizations in and around Pittsburgh that serve the LGBTQ community.]

Interview with Alex Audia on Summer Internships

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Two different summer internships helped lead intern into a permanent job

I always encourage students to complete at least one internship while they are still in school, and to truly consider doing a second internship.  Doing more than one internship pads your resume and also helps you compare the experiences which can help you figure out what kind of company you would ultimately like to work with. Summer internships are a great opportunity as they allow you to focus on your internship program rather than having to balance work and school.

I met Alexandra Audia last year when she was a participant for our Interns Summer Program, which is a series of events we run every summer for students with summer internships in southwestern PA.  I interviewed Alex on the differences of her two internships and advice she has for those considering doing an internship.

Alex Graduated from Ball State University last spring with a double major in Magazine Journalism and Spanish.  Her first summer internship was with the Pittsburgh Technology Council as an editorial intern during the summer of 2009.  Last summer she completed a journalism internship with Pop City Media.

Why do an internship?

Alex said, “Internships are vital for getting experience – they are absolutely necessary.  Having done an internship really brings you to the forefront of the major you are studying.  Being in a formalized internship setting and having somebody there who has been through it all can really help you to grow in your profession.”

Comparing the two summer internships

Pop City Media’s publication is published online weekly.  During her summer internship, Alex was responsible for writing a story a week for the various news sections in the online publication and any other “maintenance work” — updating the website, going through stories, creating links for the website, updating the neighborhood listings and going through the local chambers to see if the businesses were still open, proofreading sometimes and also helped while people were on vacations.  The Tech Council’s magazine is published quarterly.  Alex wrote a lot of postings for their blog and did proof reading for their directory.

The environments at the two summer internships were a lot different – Alex had her own cube with the Tech Council but worked remotely with Pop City.

The audiences that Alex was responsible for attracting were different between the two companies as well.  Alex reported technology news internally to Technology Council members—so she had to write about technology companies doing new and innovative things.  Through this, Alex found out that she was really interested in technology.  One of her favorite stories was about Bossa Nova Robotics, a Pittsburgh-based CMU robotics company.  They created “personal entertainment robot” toys called penguins (which are geared to little girls) and gorillas (which are geared toward little boys.)

During her summer internship with Pop City Media, she was responsible for writing for a much broader audience on all things Pittsburgh related to an external audience.  Pop City Media writes Pittsburgh stories and categorizes them by neighborhood.

How did she get the job?

Alex highly recommends considering summer internships even if you truly are looking for a permanent job (as do we!).  Finding a permanent job after graduation is still so important, but today’s economy can be hard on recent graduates.  We are finding more and more companies are more apt to hire an intern to consider that person for a permanent  job rather than to hire a recent college graduate immediately.  Doing summer internships is a really great way to get your foot in the door of a company.  People will see what your abilities are so when the time comes to hire someone they will look to you and how you work in their environment.  Alex also believes that is important for people to know that it doesn’t matter what your major is – whenever you are looking for a job people want to know what you can do.  Sitting in a classroom does not gauge what your chosen profession is going to be like.

Additionally, having an internship or two can help you develop your soft skills.   We are hearing more from employers that their interns and new hires tend to struggle with interpersonal relations.

We are happy to report that Alexandra Audia has taken a full-time job at Asian Metal, an online trade publication for the metals industry. Their headquarters are in Beijing, China and the U.S. office is here in Pittsburgh, which is where Alex is working.