Hey y’all!

Sorry it’s been so long since I’ve posted- my account keeps locking me out. In fact, this is my second time today writing this very post… which I’m hoping and praying will publish this time.

I’ve been working 8 am or 8:30 am to 5 or 6 pm every day and eating my lunches at my desk. Working in comms is crazy. I was originally assigned to two accounts, which means that I do work and go to meetings for two accounts. I love going to meetings because I get to find out the “why” behind the work I do, which is really important for me motivationally. The people I work with are really wonderful and very accomplished in their fields- they come from all over, comms wise.

I also have been lucky enough to be designated the comms/advocacy crossover intern. I think I want to work in Advocacy after graduation, so this is wonderful. I got assigned to a third account which is more policy-focused, and I’m learning so much from working on the account. It’s definitely a little crazy trying to get all three account’s deliverables out the door, but it’s also really good to always be busy.

Being in DC is amazing. I have been able to meet many of my favorite Tulane alumni, hang out with some of my friends from school, and go to networking events up the wazoo. I recently spoke at the Pew Center about sexual assault, and now I am meeting up with a lot of people in town who work on the same issues. Tonight, in fact, I’m meeting with some people from the It’s On Us campaign (which you may recognize from campus!). I’m very excited to be surrounded by other people trying to make change.

Anyways, that’s all for now. I’m again sorry for my lateness in posting- tech doesn’t always comply, if you’ve noticed.

Thank you,

Court

So far my legal projects at Fund 17 are going great. I applied for legal assistance through the Pro Bono Project, and our application was accepted. Now we are just waiting to be matched with a lawyer. I am almost finished creating a legal resource for entrepreneurs, which will also double as a teaching material for Fund 17’s future fellows.

The area of my internship that is proving to be difficult is impact assessment. I first had to research it and try to learn the impact assessment best practices for micro-finance nonprofits. This is still an area where I need to improve. I surveyed two out of our three clients and the surveys went well. They both seemed to have benefited from working with us.

I’ve been trying to figure out our 501c3 application for the past few days, and have been frequenting the IRS website, something I wouldn’t normally do. The application is pretty hard to understand. The instructions alone for Form 1023, which has to be completed before you can begin the actual 501c3, are more than 10 pages long. Luckily, a lawyer contacted us about helping us with the application. The meeting is on Monday, and I hope she can give us some guidance because this is really complex material, and you don’t want to make any mistakes when it comes to the IRS!

I think that right now, I am most proud of the legal document that I have been creating. I’ve found some really informative, reliable resources online that I think will help entrepreneurs a lot. I also am happy to have found potential pro bono legal assistance within the first week, because I had just assumed that it would be much harder to find. I think that this internship is teaching me the complexity of different areas of the law. I’m learning tax law and business law. Because a lot of my work is self-directed, I’m learning the importance of being self-motivated. This is the most hands-on work I’ve ever done and it will directly affect people’s livelihoods, so I’m glad that I’m also learning about accountability.

Hey!

I’ve had a great last week at my internship, so I can’t wait to see what will come next! For this specific project that I am working on, called Washington Coast Works, I’m actually doing the majority of my work at the Pinchot office in downtown Seattle. At Pinchot there is the Center for Inclusive Entrepreneurship (CIE), a program that provides entrepreneurship and enterprise support to people in underserved communities. Because CIE specializes in something very similar to what the Nature Conservancy (TNC) project is working for, TNC provides the funding and support to CIE to head the Washington Coast Works project. I hope that all made sense!

Anyways, I’m mainly working at the Pinchot office downtown where I’m primarily working with just one guy, Mike, who has been putting so much time and energy into this project. Because Mike has been doing so much of the project on his own so far, he is very appreciate of the help.

For this first week Mike has just been giving me a full rundown of the project so far. I read the entire USDA grant proposal that he had submitted to gain money to fund the project, as well as all of the applications that have been submitted from people who have ideas for businesses. There are a lot of other forms and files that I’ve been reading as well, in order to familiarize myself with the entire project. It’s all super interesting! Our next steps are to choose the ten participants and two alternates for the competition.

I had a great first impression of the job! Although I’m not really working much with anyone else in the office, they have all been very welcoming and helpful. The whole building is a really interesting space and ideas kind of just flow freely between the organizations that are housed in it. I’ll definitely try to take more pictures.

I’ve learned a ton so far as well. I think that through this internship I’ll learn a lot about small business start-ups, as well as sustainability in businesses. What’s amazing about this internship is that because I’m only working with a few people I actually have some sort of a say – something that I didn’t expect. Before I arrived Mike and Eric, the partner at TNC, had drafted up a list of participants for the competition. I disagreed with two of those that they had chosen, and they actually switched them out with the ones that I had supported.

I’m excited to see how the rest of the internship goes after a great first week!

Now that I’ve had some time to settle in to New York City, all I can say is that this is one of the most incredible cities I have ever had the pleasure of visiting. It is vibrant, dynamic, and surprisingly beautiful. While I’ve seen a few rats in the subway, I’ve also seen gorgeous skylines, intricate facades, and lovely parks.

Life here goes by quickly – I can’t believe I’m almost halfway done– but I am appreciating the ability to explore New York slowly, and get a taste of the different neighborhoods, all with a very distinct flavor (and now that I can navigate the subway, I can actually go places, instead of wandering around for hours on foot). I could wax poetic about this city for hours, but it’s one of those places that you have to visit to appreciate.

One of the greatest perks about spending the summer in New York is the proximity to young professionals and recent college graduates. Don’t believe it when people say that networking is hard: I have been blown away by how friendly and helpful the majority of people are when I reach out to them. I also cannot emphasize enough how useful it is to get real, honest answers to questions about life after graduation. Informational interviews have helped me decide what career I want to pursue, while I still have time to change my mind. I’ve also met some amazing people who I genuinely want to stay in contact with.

I recommend going to the Alumni Crawfish Boil, as it was a lot of fun and I got to eat some mudbugs.

In addition to everything I’ve been learning in my free time, I’ve had a great time at my internship so far. Success Academy Charter Schools is one of those rare non-profits that is operated like a for-profit company; they are results-oriented and performance driven.

It is organized like an imaginary web: the network office is the central hub, with each of the 32 schools branching out from the network. Curricula, practices, and personnel are shared across schools. If a person or a process needs improvement anywhere in the network, management figures out a way to make it more efficient, with the ultimate focus on the kids (who are referred to as scholars). As a result of this insatiable desire to improve, Success Academies have proven, well, successful.

Although the model is controversial, I have never seen a more respectful, mature, and curious group of second graders than when I visited Success Academy Union Square a few weeks ago. They were all sharp as a tack, and each one could definitely beat me handily in chess (which is a daily part of the curriculum). I was impressed.

 

 

I feel exceptionally grateful to have the opportunity to intern with Success. I get to spend every day with engaged, dedicated people who are passionate about their work. It’s a very close-knit community, motivated by the desire to make a difference in education reform. I genuinely like my supervisors and my fellow interns, and I enjoy the work that I have been doing. Granted, it has been a lot of Excel work, but it has definitely improved my knowledge of spreadsheets and shortcuts.

Beyond the tables with literally hundreds of rows, I have been fortunate enough to work on some interesting projects. I read municipal bond proposals to raise money for a teacher training institute; proofread the business expense policy handbook; and attended meetings with auditors to improve internal controls. Since Success receives public funding (albeit at a lower rate than district public schools), they are subject to substantial government oversight, so we have been working a lot on preparing our budgets for approval. I am learning a lot about corporate finance and the charter school model in general, and I’m also improving less tangible skills, like time management and punctuality.

I am greatly enjoying my first foray into the real world. Stay tuned for more updates!

For the past two weeks I’ve spent my days in the ER, General Internal Medicine, and Neurology departments at UMC learning how to examine patients, discern pathologies, and execute protocols when a new patient is admitted to the hospital or visiting the office. Although I’ve seen a dense variety of diseases, the majority of cases are of liver cirrohsis, due to prevalent excessive alcohol consumption and Asian people’s increased risk for Hepatitis B. I’ve begun to recognize its tell-tale signs – englarged and hardened belly, reddening of the edges of the palms, “spidery” or star-like red marks on the chest, and sometimes jaundice. My favorite moments are when I can examine the patients myself. My mentors guide me in asking about the patient’s history and lifestyle, looking for visual clues, testing reflexes and pain, feeling for abnormal shapes/growths, and distinguishing between normal and abnormal sounds of the body. Learning the basics of clinical examinations and being able to recognize the most common pathologies in Vietnam were my two top goals when beginning this internship; I look forward to practicing these skills every day. I feel more confident examining a patient now, and although I usually can not make a diagnosis, I can acquire plenty of information on the patient- and this is the first crucial step. To my own surprise, I’ve also been trained to do ultrasounds and take blood for testing. There is, as I expected, a special satisfaction in helping a person improve their welfare, even if I only play the smallest part. It’s this that I am most proud of.

I hope it is not too long before I will be performing these procedures on my own.

I have concluded my first week as an intern at the International Centre for Migration, Health, and Development extremely excited to be spending the next two months taking advantage of the amazing opportunities Geneva has to offer. At the ICMHD, I will be creating research reports on projects the organization is currently undertaking. My first assignment is to create a literature review of rare cancer research, as the ICMHD is looking to become involved in a related project.

In terms of the environment at the ICMHD, the organization is located in a house right outside Geneva (complete with balconies perfect for enjoying the beautiful weather we’ve been having). I have met much of the ICMHD staff and was pleasantly surprised by their friendliness and the pleasant atmosphere at the office. Stretches of time spent researching are broken with long lunches where everyone gathers to eat a home-cooked meal prepared by an ICMHD staff member. I have found these lunches excellent opportunities to ask questions and learn about the experiences of those at the ICMHD, many of whom have been extensively involved with organizations such as the UN and WHO.

In my spare time, I am putting together a journal club presentation, which involves describing the findings, methods etc. of research published in an academic journal, which is followed by a discussion of the article. The journal club is a new fixture at the ICMHD, and my presentation will be the first to take place. I am going to present an article describing research conducted on the connections between gender, environment and migration in communities located in the Karakoram mountains of Pakistan.

Outside my internship, I have many opportunities to interact with other interns working at the many NGOs and intergovernmental organizations of Geneva. A group called the Geneva Interns Association organizes hikes and nights out for interns, and most people I have met at my hostel, located in Geneva’s old town are also interns. Meeting so many new people reminds me a bit of the fist few weeks of freshman year, this time in addition to “what’s your name, where are you from?” is almost always tacked on, “where are you interning?”

Talking to other interns gives me a new perspective on entering fields like public health and politics, and working for NGOs in the international arena. Much of what my fellow interns have to say is heavy with disillusionment regarding the work of the UN, WHO and the countless NGOs based in Geneva. While everyone is thrilled with the professional opportunities of interning in this city (and the chance to literally frolic in the French Prealps, as I did last weekend), we are beginning to understand the immense work chipping away at the global humanitarian crises requires, and that these agencies are not the solve-all entities we wish they were.

From making connections with the various intergovernmental organizations and nonprofits, to visiting chocolate factories and hiking, my time here is going to shape up to be the best entrance into professional life I could ask for. Even if everything I hear isn’t positive, I came here looking to better understand the complexities of humanitarian work so I can one day have the skills to aid in these efforts. I am immensely excited and grateful to spend the next two months working towards achieving this goal.

 

Hey y’all!

This past month at teachNOLA/TNTP has been great! We are in full swing of Pre-Service Training (PST) for this years teachNOLA fellows so it is definitely exciting each day. PST occurs at a local charter school in New Orleans East so it has also been a change of scenery. With the start of PST, my duties have shifted a bit. Instead of solely working on collecting fellows paperwork from the database, I am now getting to talk with the fellows one-on-one with regards to their paperwork and progress. Along with that, I am getting to see the process of what teachNOLA really does, and just how much work gets put in from both the staff and the fellows. Oh, and I also got to make some posters for PST!

Mainly, what I have been doing as the Operation Intern is all focused on getting the fellows licensed. For the current cohort, I am collecting their transcripts and Praxis scores and compiling them for each person so that when it comes time for them to apply for their practitioners license, everything will be in order. The Department of Education has certain standards with which everything has to be submitted, so we have to make sure that everything that gets turned into us will pass with the DOE. A new task that I have been working on is processing past year’s fellows practitioner license renewals or their level 1 license applications. I’ve found that it is important to follow the right process and procedure each time, especially since the fellows licenses rely on the correct completion of all the paperwork.

I am definitely feeling more confident in each of the tasks that I am assigned, and am having to ask less questions. I think I am making progress on my communication skills, and feel more confident composing professional emails. Although comfort isn’t necessarily a measure of progress, but it is amazing how much more you can get done when you aren’t constantly worried about doing something incorrectly. I am most proud of the fact that I am becoming a more independent worker in the office, as a result of a gain in knowledge. I come into the office in the morning, and usually have an idea of what I need to do each day. I think throughout this internship my communication skills will continue to grow, as well as administrative skills. Because I plan on getting a masters degree in Health Administration, I think these skills will prove important both in the classroom and on the work force.

I can’t wait to see what the next month has in store with teachNOLA/TNTP!

Until next time,

Hannah

I’m having such a wonderful time in Kigali, Rwanda so far! It’s hard to know
where to start. I feel like I’ve been here forever, but it’s only been a week.

Kigali is a beautiful, beautiful city and I’ve felt very safe everywhere I have gone.

My homestay is within the grounds of a technical school where I am taking classes for the first month. I live with a house mom, house dad, and their adorable one year old son, Adore.

The housekeepers speak little English and only a bit of French, so I am learning the native Kinyarwanda language quickly. Despite the language barrier, we laugh a lot together and I can tell we are going to be great friends.

There is electricity about 70% of the time, but there is rarely running water. The water comes on for a few minutes some nights and we rush to fill as many buckets as we can to use for showering and flushing the toilet. However, everyone I have met has a phone, many have smartphones. I was able to buy a USB Internet modem for my computer: 5GB of Internet cost 15000 Rwandan francs, or about $20. Hopefully it will last me a while.

So far, my days have been focused on settling in to Kigali, learning Kinyarwanda (and some French), and trying to get a better understanding of healthcare needs in the developing world. We visited a lab where Rwandan students are trained to become Biomedical Engineering Technicians (BMETS). There, we took apart some equipment to see how it works and the technicians talked about common problems and how to repair and test them.

In July, my partner and I will move to a city in the northern province, Musanze to work at Ruhengeri Hospital. This month, I just want to learn as much as I can so I can be as effective as possible during my month-long stay in Ruhengeri.