Week #10!

I wanted to save my last post to write after my internship officially ended, so I apologize for the delay! I had my last day at RMHC yesterday, and I am grateful for this learning stipend and how it allowed me to rediscover my passions for a philanthropic future career. I finished up all of my inventory project tasks on Tuesday, and my supervisor was quite happy with the results! I ended up installing the new system, taking inventory of the entire RMHC storage rooms, and training other volunteers and staff members on the system. I am proud of my accomplishments and hope to leave a lasting impact with the inventory there in the future. This internship has definitely had an effect on what I want to pursue post-grad, as I know now for sure that nonprofit work is my future. I like to be surrounded by people who are passionate about who they serve and what they do, and I definitely found that at RMHC. My biggest learning experience was learning how to voice concerns to supervisors along the way, and not being afraid to make this voice heard. I often found myself at the beginning with a lot of downtime, and I finally worked up the courage to ask my boss if we could fix that and find other tasks for me to do during this downtime. I wish I had asked earlier! So my piece of advice to future students is that you always need to remember your voice matters and your supervisors value what you think. Don’t shy away! Additionally, I would also advise others to not be afraid to suggest things they think they could improve upon in the internship program next year. When my supervisor asked me this question during my interview, I offered up the idea of maybe creating a grants management position within the RMHC internship program next year, as I know a lot of students who want to go into nonprofits would benefit from that kind of experience. He thought it was a great idea, and will be proposing it to the rest of the team soon!