Intern Blog | July 2011
Welcome to our Intern Blog
This summer, the participants in PLEN’s Women & Public Policy Internship program are having meaningful experiences at various organizations and government agencies, including Women for Women International and the Office of Science Policy and Communication, National Institutes of Health. Within the PLEN Intern Blog site, you can learn more about our interns’ placements, their everyday experiences in the workplace and tips they have found helpful to make the most out of their internship and professional endeavors. Please note that the views of our interns do not represent the views of PLEN as an organization.
- Rebecca Tulloch is a graduate of Mitchell College in New London, Ct., with a B.A. in global studies. She recently moved down to Washington to intern at Women for Women International and begin her career in public policy. Tulloch’s blog entry discusses the transition from college life to adulthood in Washington.
A New Beginning
This summer I am interning at Women for Women International (WfWI). WfWI is a non-profit organization that provides women survivors of war, civil conflict and other conflicts with the resources to move from crisis and poverty to stability and self-sufficiency. During my internship experience, I am learning how the Sponsorship Department, where I am interning, plays a critical role in the overall development of the organization. My intern duties are diverse, including making sure the women program participants, or “sisters”, are matched with the correct sponsors and working on updating the website, which is vital to the communication network at WfWI.
Every morning I wake up at 7 am to begin my workday. While I do not have to be in the office until 9 am, waking up early allows me plenty of time to pick out what I am going to wear for the day and put together a healthy lunch. I often am indecisive, so there might be a time when I feel like I have nothing to wear, when in fact I have a whole closet full of clothes that I acquired for my first full-time internship last summer in the office of Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney. The casual clothes that one wears during college are now not part of my daily attire.
I work at WfWI 40 hours a week, Monday through Friday, 9am to 5pm. I do not mind working a full week since it gives me something to do, rather than sitting around. Everyone at WfWI is friendly and helpful. Since our office takes over the entire second floor, everyone seems to know everyone. There is a very collegial atmosphere among professional staff and interns from my area and the others.
The most rewarding part of my internship is looking at letters from sponsors to sisters. These sponsors devote so much time in writing these letters. Often you will find pictures enclosed, as well as artwork that is usually drawn by the sponsors’ children. When I read these letters, I get the feeling that these sponsors really do care about their sisters even if they are thousands miles away in a remote area and having challenges that are unthinkable. I would love to witness how the sisters feel once they receive their letters from their sponsors. I am sure it is a powerful experience simply because these sisters feel that someone halfway around the world cares about them no matter their race, culture, ethnicity or economic challenges. This personal connection helps them overcome their traumatic experiences as victims of war and violence.
My various courses of study have been a great asset to my internship. Currently, I am working on assisting a professional staff member in the Sponsorship Department on redesigning the website to make it more user-friendly and organizing the website based on department and/or country. In order to do this, the first step is to create a spreadsheet series of the current information on the website in order to figure out what works and what does not work. I am beginning to develop more expertise in Microsoft Excel that is crucial to know in working in an organization.
As I said in the title above, this summer is “a new beginning”. I recently graduated from college and like my friends, I must go on this journey of “finding myself” and at the same time develop my professional identity in the workforce. There is a difference between being an intern in college and being an intern after college. Those who are still in college have time to think about full time employment, but those that are no longer in college have to make every experience on their internship seem like it can be a potential job opportunity. Due to the current economic recession, this is more of a dream than a reality.
More and more of my friends are returning home to find themselves with no apartment and/or no job and living once again under the supervision of their parents. I find myself to be one of the lucky ones. I mean I did not graduate from college with a job lined up, but rather, I have an internship that gives me a purpose in addition to starting my career in public service. I have worked every summer in high school and college and I would not be comfortable with doing nothing. Years ago, people might not understand the value of an internship compared to a job. An internship is a way to contribute and learn about organizations and understand yourself and how you might realize your professional goals.
No one can prepare you for life after college. I thought that once I graduated from college I would know exactly what I want to do, where I want to work and have an amazing apartment. However, I soon learned that I do not know what I want to do, where I eventually want to work and living with my father is not bad after all. I cook and he cleans! I am fortunate to have the security of a home even though I am not employed. However, most college graduates assume that once you graduate from college you are automatically entitled to have an amazing job and apartment. There are many “new beginnings” in life—when you go to college, at different points in college and then once you graduate. With each beginning you need to earn the next step.
Right now, I am focused on moving onto another internship in the fall and possibly the spring, as well. Eventually, I am interested in graduate studies, possibly related to women’s issues or Homeland Security. For now, an internship is the new beginning that will help me understand how to contribute and make a difference in public service.
- PLEN summer interns are required to do a presentation during the program on a topic of their choice to exercise public speaking skills and give them an opportunity to teach their peers about an issue that matters to them. Emily Hawkins , a junior political science major at Meredith College who is interning at EMILY’s List, chose to present on the defunding of Planned Parenthood in her home state of North Carolina, which she chronicles below.
- Email your state representative and senator
- Attend protests and rallies
- Donate money to Planned Parenthood
- Work for a pro-choice politician or candidate
- Sign a petition
War on Women
A woman’s right to choose was protected by the Supreme Court in the landmark 1973 case Roe v. Wade. Despite subsequent legal challenges by diverse parties, the Court’s decision has been confirmed again and again in cases including Planned Parenthood v. Casey and Stenberg v. Carhart. One would hope that politicians would respect the highest court’s decision, but unfortunately, the GOP has put women’s issues on the chopping block on both the national and state levels.
North Carolina, my home state, suffered major Democratic losses in the 2010 election, with Republicans taking control of both chambers for the first time in over one hundred years. While I identify as a Democrat, I am all for bipartisan work and respect numerous Republicans.
Fortunately, I am able to maintain these relationships out of mutual respect and understanding. Unfortunately, North Carolina’s GOP Freshmen do not understand the “mutual respect” clause. Less than one year into office, the legislature voted to axe all state and federal funding, totaling around $430,000, to Planned Parenthood.
Planned Parenthood of North Carolina operates nine facilities and serves over 25,000 men and women per year. The budget cuts will cause the healthcare provider to cut vital programs, including teen pregnancy prevention and adolescent parenting lessons. Maybe the Republicans forgot to do their homework, but I’m almost positive that defunding the biggest provider of contraceptives only increases abortion.
Worse, the State actually relied on Planned Parenthood to fill essential gaps in the public healthcare system. According to the Huffington Post, the North Carolina Health Department, which serves mainly low-income patients, has waiting lists up to three months long for routine tests, such as mammograms and pelvic exams for birth control. Planned Parenthood used to pick up that slack, but with the funding cuts, its services will be decreased and more expensive—forcing low-income patients who do not qualify for Medicaid to pay out of pocket.
So why did the legislature opt to defund one of the primary health providers in the state? Planned Parenthood offers abortion services. However, unlike Sen. Jon Kyl would like you to believe, abortion only makes up 3 percent of the services provided by Planned Parenthood. A majority of the services were preventative measures, including contraception.
Unfortunately, North Carolina is not alone in this fight. Indiana and Kansas have already voted to defund Planned Parenthood, and Wisconsin is in the process of doing so. Here are some ways to get involved and make your voice heard in order to prevent more women from losing access to reproductive healthcare:
- Kaitlin Splett is a senior gender and sexuality studies major at Tulane University. She is interning at Equal Justice Works and learning the ropes of interning and working in Washington. Kaitlin shares some handy tips for college students looking to get the most out of their internship, dress the part and network successfully.
Dress and Network Successfully: Learning the In’s and Out’s of Interning
I am originally from St. Louis, Mo., but attend Tulane University in New Orleans, La. It is through Tulane that I was connected with PLEN and I could not be more grateful for this connection.
I am a gender and sexuality studies major with minors in history and psychology. Throughout my studies, I became really passionate about social justice and the law specifically. PLEN did a terrific job matching me with Equal Justice Works based on my interests. Equal Justice Works is a non-profit based in D.C. that gives grants and fellowships to new lawyers so that they can pursue their dream job in public service, through a project they design and pitch, and still get paid, eat and pay off their intense amount of debt. So far, it has been nothing short of amazing. It’s such a terrific learning experience in so many ways.
But … OK. You want some juicy stuff, right? Some valuable tips about what life is really like as an intern in DC? Something substantial? Well you have come to the right place. Please enjoy the following tips and tricks as you consider coming DC, being an intern, and taking part in this crazy adventure.
1. Look the part.
Pamela O’Leary, PLEN’s Executive director, is a big fan of “dressing for the job you want, not the job you have”. In DC you never know whom you might meet—at this point Pamela doesn’t even run to Target or CVS looking shabby. I’m not sure I go to that length, but when I got into PLEN’s intern program in April, my business appropriate dress was pretty minimal—I was a college junior. I love Tulane sweats, ratty Rainbow flip-flops, and whatever doesn’t stick to me in the New Orleans humidity. So here’s what I did: Every time The Limited, White House Black Market, or any of my “go-to” stores were having a sale, I went and bought something for my internship. I was able to build my wardrobe fairly inexpensively and I wasn’t running around like a crazy person the night before I left.
An important addition to this point is to pay very special consideration to your footwear. Here’s something I love about DC: this isn’t Paris or even New York—the women here aren’t fooling anyone; they work and they work hard. No one is in six-inch Louboutins—no one is even in six-inch Steve Madden’s. Bring your commuter shoes (remember those ratty Rainbow flip-flops?) and invest in something comfortable and cute for work. My favorite: The Lennox by Natrualizer.
I know, your Grammy loves Naturalizer, but so do I. I love the patent leather, the subtle platform, and the fact that the inside feels like a running shoe. I’m a heels kind of girl though, but tons of ladies find fab flats and look just as polished. The key to intern dress is keeping it classy and classic. Nothing too tight, too short, too stretchy, too sparkly, too shiny, too flammable. Save those choices for your weekends.
2. Participate in the “Extra-Curricular” Activities
In DC, if you work on the Hill, at a non-profit or a law firm, there will be an abundance of extra-curriculars. These can run the gamut from Hill receptions publicized by the Cloture Club, to your boss inviting everyone to a happy hour, to the myriad of bars and restaurants throwing special parties for summer interns, to softball games.
So there’s a lot to do. Do not duck out on these opportunities. After 9 hours of work at your internship, after accomplishing 14,000 different kinds of tasks throughout the day, putting your happy face on and scampering to a restaurant or to play softball does not always seem like the best option. But it’s so worth it and is a way to meet people, talk with your boss about topics unrelated to work and eat and drink at a discount.
3. Live with other interns
This is a tough one. This summer I am living at George Washington University in Foggy Bottom. I have to be honest, it isn’t cheap; it is expensive and I had a lot of trouble writing the check, but in the end I am so glad I did. I live with three other girls who are also summer interns. Living with these three has been an integral part of my experience and I wouldn’t have it any other way. One of my roommates is an AIDS activist by day and gourmet vegetarian chef by night. She cooks absolutely delicious meals for the whole apartment and can make highly engaging conversation over dinner. You can’t beat it. Another roommate did much of her schooling abroad and as a result brings in a different worldly perspective that is so refreshing. I know the cost seems exorbitant, but I promise the experience is priceless.
My last advice would be to start thinking now about somewhere to intern next summer. You’ll learn more in a summer in DC than in a semester at school, I promise.
- Hillary Fabrico is a senior political science major at Goucher College and interns at the Global Women’s Network, an organization that serves as a database of girls’ and women’s organizations. Hillary profiles the issue of human trafficking internationally and within the U.S.
- 38 percent of girls in developing countries marry before the age of 18
- One-quarter to one-half of girls in developing countries become mothers before age 18
- 14 million girls ages 15 to 19 give birth in developing countries each year
Raising Awareness: Human Trafficking, Child Marriage, and Sex Trade in the U.S. and Abroad
This summer I am interning at the Global Women’s Network (GWN). GWN is the wikipedia of women’s and girls’ organizations, we create a collaborative space that allows thousands of women’s and girls’ organizations and nonprofits worldwide to share information regarding their organizations, as well as their current news, issues, and needs. Our site went live on May 22nd, and so far we have received positive feedback from all of the organizations that have become a part of GWN.
While I knew I would be working for a women’s organization this summer, I never anticipated how much I would be learning. One of my responsibilities at GWN is maintaining our website, which means I am often adding organizations, events, and news articles. Because I am adding all of this information, I am also learning about different issues and the organizations that address them.
After reading a few articles recently, I have come to realize how lucky I am to have the life that I do, and how sheltered I have been from the reality of the issues women face, not only internationally, but also within our own country. Prior to my work at GWN, I never fully understood that things like child marriage, human trafficking, and commercial sexual exploitation actually take place.
It started with this video: The Girl Effect, which is a movement meant to bring attention to the issues and empower girls. A few of the stats that the Girl Effect lists are:
These statistics seemed unreal when I read them, so I began to look for more information. The first article that I found was from National Geographic entitled “Too Young to Wed: The secret world of child brides“. This article opens with the group marriage of three girls ages 15, 13, and 5—a five-year-old, getting married.
My next thought retrospectively was a naive one: these sorts of things while they take place in other countries, there is no way that things like this take place in the US. They take place in underdeveloped countries that simply don’t know better, but here it would never happen because we know better. I was wrong.
One week at the PLEN seminar Sarah Jakiel from Polaris Project came and spoke to us. Polaris Project combats human trafficking internationally, with their main focus in the United States. With 100,000 children estimated to be in the sex trade in the United States each year, this issue is happening here, and it’s not a small issue. My question is how does this issue not draw more attention? There are some smaller movements within the US, like the Daughter Project,which focuses on this issue, but why is this movement not larger?
CNN recently posted a great video on human trafficking in the US and hopefully that will begin to bring more attention to the issue. And as for me, I will continue to learn more about these issues and add the organizations that combat human trafficking to GWN. Raising awareness and educating people is the first step to helping end these horrendous issues and that is what I will continue doing.
- Avantika Handa , a senior economics and political science major at Tulane University, is interning at the Office of Science Policy and Communication at the NIH this summer. Avantika learned much about interview skills working with PLEN, and decided to present on job interview preparation during a weekly PLEN seminar. Read her blog entry below to find out why she chose this topic and what it means to her.
How to Ace a Professional Interview
Interviewing is one of the most important aspects of professional development. Without a successful interview, it is not only hard to land a job, but it is also difficult to advance your career. As a college student I am not used to talking about my accomplishments. While I had received tips on interviewing, prior to PLEN, I did not realize that interviews are an opportunity to sell oneself to employers.
When I started researching my topic, I knew that I wanted to discuss less traditional interview tips. I found many great articles that discussed unique interview tips in the Wall Street Journal. One of my favorite articles discussed how to answer any interview question. I thought this article was extremely interesting because it dispelled the common belief that the success of an interview depends on the questions the interviewer asks. According to the article, the opposite is true–a job candidate can get his or her message across to the employer no matter what question the employer asks.
The article mentioned a unique job interview formula: Q = A + 1.
In this formula, “Q” is the question, “A” is the answer, the “+” is the bridge between the answer to the interviewer’s question and the message one wants to deliver, and the “1″ is the actual message one wants to deliver. Without the “+ 1″, the interviewer controls the direction of the interview. However, with the “+ 1″, the person getting interviewed can make sure to drive home their most important points.
Until I did my first mock interview with PLEN, I did not recognize the importance of asking employers questions during interviews. An article from the Nonprofit Times provided valuable information on asking questions during interviews.
I was surprised to learn that the questions I ask an employer during an interview can reflect my knowledge and interest in the position to which I am applying . It is important not to ask simple yes or no questions. It is even more important to avoid asking questions whose answers I might have overlooked while doing my background research on the company. The questions to ask during an interview should be thoughtful and should engage the employer.
Good questions to ask during an interview might discuss what the day-to-day activities in the position include or challenges the organization is currently facing. From the discussion with my fellow PLEN interns, I learned that it is acceptable to ask the employer questions in your follow-up after the interview. In fact, this can even be considered positive as it shows you are still thinking about the interview and are dedicated to the organization.
