Searching for an internship in Washington, D.C. is no easy task. Any professional living in the D.C. area is familiar with eager students struggling to push themselves onto the metro to walk up the Capitol Hill steps in heavy suits or high heels, or looking awful in the picture on their badges. As thrilling as all of this sounds, I knew I was looking for a different set of characteristics in a summer internship experience.
I was confident that I wanted to further my understanding of nonprofit work and become acquainted with working with diverse groups of people. As a rising junior at George Washington University, I found that these would be necessary skills two years from now as I began my search for a career with a diploma in hand.
Project Vote captured my attention by highlighting a fascinating history of voting rights while also emphasizing the work that still needed to be done. As a daughter of two immigrant parents, Project Vote’s mission to encourage voter registration rates among the most underrepresented groups in the United States personally resonated with me. With a highly skilled staff and dozens of impressive nonprofit partners, Project Vote’s summer internship was exactly the experience I was looking for.
I was assigned to work with Kate Bass, manager of Project Vote’s new Nonprofit Partners Initiative. I worked with Kate in and out of the Washington, D.C. office to help develop the contents of the training and reach out to program managers to host the trainings in various states.
The real fun began when I got to see these trainings in action. Kate and I traveled to New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Arizona to train more than 15 nonprofit organizations about how to effectively implement voter registration in order to help give their communities a voice. The trainings themselves were interesting and distinct – each one offering a unique perspective on what nonprofit work looks like and how each organization interacts with their clients.
Some trainings were loud while others were mellow. Some trainings were smooth while others required impromptu Spanish translation. The hurdles along the way, however, allowed me to strengthen my grasp on handling obstacles with poise and composure. One of the most special moments occurred in my last training with Project Vote. At the Greater Phoenix Urban League in Phoenix, Arizona, we had broken for a lunch break when one of the participants noted that she had never registered to vote. She then filled out a voter registration form. Personally assisting a person to register to vote after teaching numerous nonprofit staff members how to help their clients was a touching moment. I hope that every person who attended our trainings is able to feel this same moment of fulfillment.
At one training, a staff member noted that she was going to start looking at her work less like “I have to—” and more like “I get to—” This sentiment truly resonated with me. From then on, I started thinking, “I get to help people understand the importance of voter registration. I get to understand the importance of nonprofit work. I get to keep this experience with me forever.”