Running On Interns

Remember your internships during college?  I interned in Washington DC where I found myself running the auto-pen (yes, that's a thing) for Congressmen, attending Congressional hearings on energy bills and learning that when the boss closes the door, it's generally not a good idea to knock and ask if you can leave early.  The experience I came away with was incredibly valuable.  Learning how to navigate the "adult" world and what office politics looked like before my rent depended on it, gave me a huge jump start when the training wheels came off at college graduation.  

At Komen Austin we are fortunate to have a robust and year-round internship program.  Whether it's social media, mission or finance work, we have a space for just about everyone.  This summer eight amazing young college students shared our space and truly impacted the work we do here.  They allow us to double the size of our employee base and get at least that much more accomplished.  Plus they bring us some unexpected fun - like Office Olympics and The Wall Sit Challenge.  I will tell you that wall sitting in heels is much harder than in tennis shoes!  Our interns do more than just open mail or answer phones.  They are absolutely involved in our everyday operations and when they leave we hope they have some skills they didn't have before as well as a better understanding of Komen, our mission, and how a non-profit runs.  It's likely they will also be able to do a wall sit for longer than before.  Ale crushed us all this summer with a time of 3:02.  Kids.  

One recent intern, Kimberly Seyferth, is a UT student and published this summary of her Komen intern experience for school.  We are fortunate to have bright young minds like hers to forward our mission.  I hope your workplace is as fortunate as we have been.  If you know a young mind looking for a great internship, please send them our way.  Just make sure they know they may have to challenge Ale.