Thanks to the Scripps internship grant I was able to complete a 5-week long internship at KidWorks Community Development Corporation in Santa Ana, California this summer. I worked alongside the Director of Education and the Volunteer Coordinator to set the foundations for a future KidWorks residential summer internship. I researched existing internships at similar organizations, created a survey, and interviewed KidWorks staff in order to assess the needs of KidWorks and of the neighboring community. I created a list of resources that would aid in developing the training curriculum for the interns as well as a list of suggestions and precautions. This process allowed me to be a part of discussions surrounding the organization’s future plans as well as its core values in relation to the internship program.
Through these discussions and meetings I became acutely aware of the ways in which funding can limit programming at non-profit organizations. Because of this reality, many of our conversations dealt with how we could make a summer residential internship feasible financially. At first I thought that it was probably best to have a summer internship that was not residential. However, after hearing from the staff and community members and reading Beyond Charity by John Perkins, I realized that living in the community needs to be a vital component of the internship program at KidWorks. Because of the work that KidWorks does, it is really important for the community to trust them as well as for KidWorks to be in constant conversation with the community; a residential internship program would allow for both. In addition, a residential summer program will also allow KidWorks to serve families in the community that might not be able to participate in KidWorks programs.
One of my roles as an intern was to be a mentor to the children and youth who were participating in the summer programs at two of the KidWorks centers, Dan Donahue Center and Bishop Manor. Once a week I spent the day at Bishop Manor, KidWorks’ newest site. KidWorks has only been in the Bishop Manor neighborhood for 3 years and so the staff there are still developing relationships with the families and gaining their trust. While at Bishop Manor I helped out with their Kids’ Club, the summer program for K-5th graders. Every day of the week the kids did something different. I think that my favorite day of the week was service day, because it often meant going out into the neighborhood and having the kids be my guide.
On Friday afternoons I had the great pleasure of spending time with the youth during Xealot, a six week long summer program for junior high and high school students that focuses on art, service, career training, and leadership development at the Dan Donahue Center. I was able to spend time with the youth as they reflected on their week and shared what they had learned. I was able to share some of my own experiences on growing up in Santa Ana and on the challenges I have faced at college to encourage the students and help them process the different experiences they were having in Xealot.
I am really thankful that I was able to do an internship at KidWorks because it was a way for me to be involved and give back to my own community. I also learned that it is necessary to ask questions such as “Why are we doing this program/event/etc? What is our purpose? Who are we trying to serve?” I was reminded of the importance of mentorship. Walking away I know that I am going to actively seek a mentor in all my future workplaces.
Editor’s Note: This guest blogger was a 2014 Scripps College Internship Grant recipient. To learn more about the 2015 Internship Grant process, click here. Deadline Feb. 5.