The Ups and Downs of the Summer Internship

Summer vacation during college means many different things to different people. Some at W&M consider being a research assistant, staying in Williamsburg to help out a professor and receiving a serious resumé boost. Others choose to go home and make as much money as possible to save for the upcoming school year. Still others, like myself, chose to get an internship. This means living at home with the ‘rents, taking the Metro into DC, and spending my days pushing papers at the GlobalGiving Foundation.

Don’t get me wrong– I love the organization I intern with. GlobalGiving was started by two former World Bank employees who were dissatisfied with the top-down approach to international development. Their concept was an online marketplace for international grassroots non-profits, allowing tiny projects across the globe to be noticed by average Americans. The idea was, and still is, a hit. Check it out and donate to a project that inspires you. Here are some of my favorite projects:

–  Support Entrepreneurial Drive of Women in Ghana

– Support Amputee Soccer in Sierra Leone

– Deliver Yoga to 10,000 Prisoners

The ideas are focused, creative, and effective. They work because the “project leaders” have a close connection to the communities they work with. GlobalGiving is not about giving huge grants for large-scale infrastructure projects. It’s about getting those small-scale, meaningful projects recognized.

Anyway, I could talk about my organization all day. My experience here has been great, although it’s mostly consisted of alphabetizing due diligence reports, updating Salesforce (our online database) and doing odd jobs. I did get to make asample landing page for a potential family foundation, though– my first foray into the world of web design. Pretty cool.

The intern life isn’t glamorous, but hey, being unpaid means I get to make my own hours. I came in at 1 pm today… and I’m getting to write this blog while sitting in the office. Everyone’s job has a perk or two. Take a second to appreciate them.