Over the summer I interned with HIAS Pennsylvania. I was fortunate to find out about this internship through my JMB Award network. Rona Buchalter, the Director of Refugee Programming and Planning at HIAS Pennsylvania, is on the advisory board with me. So, when HIAS Pennsylvania was looking for help, my name came up as someone to interview. I interviewed with the Director of Development, Daniella Nahmias Scruggs, and got the job!
My job was to help the Daniella build our presence on social media. I was in charge of developing content for our Instagram and other social media accounts. I helped build awareness for events like Philadelphia World Refugee Day, a big summer event that celebrates the culture of our local immigrants. I was able to attend press events, too, like a recent one where Mayor Jim Kenney and Councilwoman Helen Gym spoke out in support of admitting more refugees and immigrants to the U.S.
I learned a lot over the summer! I learned what it takes to manage a project. You have to really explain the roles and expectations so everyone understands when to have something done by. There are a lot of behind-the-scene things I didn’t know took so much time to plan and execute!
I also learned what a content calendar was. When I was having some questions about my internship, I reached out to Fran (JMB Award’s founder and also a communication consultant), who is a communication consultant. She helped me think about how I could build a content calendar for the social media accounts and what could go in that calendar, too.
My internship experience also made me more aware of the news and what’s going on. I read lots of news articles to keep up with our immigration and asylum policies. Something I found interesting was how these events were reported. Often times, TV news networks simply gave brief details about a new policy whereas articles were in-depth. I was able to see how HIAS Pennsylvania reacts to these events to bring awareness to the challenges asylum seekers and immigrants face.
Being able to take charge of my internship helped me build up my confidence. The JMB Award community was always there to give me advice on how to make the most of this experience.
Please go learn about HIAS Pennsylvania and the refugee situation.
Angie Ortiz
Angie Ortiz is a 2017 awardee and advisory board member.
