Arch Street from the deck of my Philly sublet.

Covid-19 may still continue, but so does life in its new reality. During their college years, many students pursue internships, especially during their summer breaks. It’s a chance to delve into your interests, gain work experience, figure out what you really love (or really don’t), live on your own, explore a new city, and so much more. Many see it as a formative part of not just their college years, but their education and life as a whole, particularly when an internship launches your career. Last summer I was unable to intern anywhere, so for months I researched places to intern and wrote cover letters. Then of course in March, primetime for internship applications, the pandemic hit the United States. I had already applied to a few and watched as they were cancelled. To be incredibly inconvenient, the internship I had wanted for a long time did not cancel until May 1! Luckily, I had found another that I really loved and had already committed to it.

Although I knew from the time it was offered to me I would be interning online, I was very excited. Nervous sure, especially because it would be online, but I already did not know what to expect from an internship, so how strange could it actually be? I am interning on the Employment Team at Nationalities Service Center, a refugee resettlement agency in Philadelphia. There are many programs at NSC serving about 5,000 people each year. The Employment Team works with clients seeking work as they settle in Philadelphia. We partner with many businesses in the city, help our clients with applications, interview skills, navigating SEPTA, offer ESL classes, and job coaching for clients that want to take classes and work toward career credentials. I love this nearly century old organization even though I did not know of its existence until February (I learned about NSC through a social justice & advocacy career fair held by Career and Civic Engagement! Which I also covered for the Bryn Mawr College Instagram story). I am thrilled about the work I am doing and the people I am working with. I admire our incredibly kind and strong clients. To make it even better, my supervisor is a Bryn Mawr alum! Mawrters really can find each other everywhere. Working with an alum has allowed my internship to teach me about the Bryn Mawr community in addition to what I am learning directly through my work.

I have been interning for about a month and a half now and I have already grown and learned a great amount. Through my position on the Employment Team I work directly with our Job Developers, who are responsible for establishing partnerships with employers, preparing clients for US work culture, referring clients to specific jobs, aiding them through paperwork and their onboarding process, and much more. As an intern I conduct research to find employers to partner with, reach out to those potential employers, track client job retention, and regularly call clients to check in on their needs and schedule meetings. At the start of my internship I was uncomfortable making so many cold phone calls and did not understand how to research possible jobs for our clients. I did not understand what kind of questions to ask to get every detail on a situation, how to converse with a business’s recruiter or manager, or how to carefully note every interaction with a client. Now, I am easily working with interpreters and clients over the phone and communicating with possible employers for my team to partner with. My computer is filled with spreadsheets and notes about my conversations with clients (I would show how I organize all of my work, but all information is confidential). I have loved all of the work I have been doing and the team I have been working with, and fairly early in my internship I began to feel like an actual working part of the team because of that.

I am learning more about policy and immigration in the US, non-profit structure and work, and how to exist in the professional world than I thought possible in such a short time. A hands-on experience like an internship shows you the smallest details that you never thought about before – like how at nine months after their arrival an immigrant should begin preparing to apply for their green card, that Erie, PA accepts the most refugees in Pennsylvania, or the many specific programs and routes through which refugees can enter the US and receive services. As a political science major this internship is already benefiting my holistic education and knowledge of policy and affairs. As a person, I am understanding the world around me more than ever before and gaining life skills which I will need as I start my career after graduation.

My work setup at the kitchen table – from left to right: mug of green tea, water bottle, laptop, notebook, pen, and pencil case.

Interning remotely is as strange as Zoom classes were. It is unfamiliar territory, but we are adapting and learning what we are capable of. I am thankful that my internship can be carried out quite well online. We cannot meet with clients in person as we would with most interactions, but we can still call them and my research projects would be online anyway. I am truly impressed with how well my team has been at training myself and the other interns online. It was intimidating at first because following brand new directions and processes on a video call is difficult, but we have figured out how to communicate and everything has gone well.

It definitely does feel more distant than an internship should. There are not spontaneous conversations or meals together, bonding over office tasks or sharing interesting things we come across while working. I wish that I could be including stories about running around the office or pictures of myself and my fellow interns together, but my work has made sitting at my kitchen table plenty exciting. Every time I work closely with someone on my team I learn something new about them and our work. Everyone has great stories to tell and I still feel connected to the people I work with. It isn’t how it normally would be, but it is still good, and I am happy to be spending my summer this way. I am learning a lot about my interests, people, and how the world reacts to crises. I am learning about Philadelphia, a city I love greatly. I am learning about government programs, bureaucracy, and federal law. These are all things I really love and want to surround myself with in my career for the rest of my life. Although I may not want to pursue refugee and asylum policy specifically, I care about it and know that it is an important aspect of American politics. Students should use internships to learn about the various branches of their area of study. There are now many pathways for every major, but internships can help us narrow down our interests and discover our strengths.

Pems from February because I just miss campus that much.

I am extremely grateful to be able to have an internship this summer. Many internships were cancelled and many students are unable to intern online with  or due to lack of access to a computer or the Internet. This pandemic has accentuated the divides in our country and I am privileged to have an internship right now. I wish that all of my peers could be having a fun summer working somewhere they love. If you are interning this summer, I hope you are being safe and enjoying your work in whatever form it is taking right now. If you do not have an internship, for whatever reason, I hope that you can use your abundance of free time for yourself. Find work if you can or volunteer, read all those books that are sitting around or start watching that unnecessarily long tv show you have put off in favor of work or studying. Keep in my mind that the whole world is upside down right now, it is okay to feel confused and stressed. Take care of yourself and prepare for what comes next; we will be back on campus before we know it.

Learn more about Nationalities Service Center: https://nscphila.org/