Shanta Foundation Internship
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What is Leading Internships for New Knowledge?
Animas High School offers all junior three weeks off school to immerse themselves in an internship. The goal of these internships are to gain real world skills in a career you are interested. Your time on LINK should help you either change or solidify a career route and potentially what you will major in in college. |
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Shanta Foundation Description
The Shanta Foundation is a nonprofit organization based in both Durango, Co and Myanmar. Their goal is to empower and uplift villages in Myanmar. Shanta's philosophy is to ask the villagers what they need to be successful. Instead of going in and telling the villagers what they need. Currently, they provide, education through building schools, healthcare, loan fund opportunities, agriculture support, and water systems. I chose the Shanta Foundation because I believe in their message. I think it is unfair for people to come into developing countries and impose their own agenda on them. Ultimately, the people living there know what they need. The Shanta Foundation values villagers impute, which then dictates what programs they will implement. I am grateful to be part of this groundbreaking organization because their approach makes sense logistically and ethically to me. |
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Preparation and Anticipation
6/2/18
I spent my spring semester at the School for Ethics and Global Leadership (SEGL). During my time there, I studied Myanmar, specifically the Rohingya Refugee Crisis. I became very interested in the country and was intrigued to learn more. I would argue the world was rooting for Myanmar’s path to democracy, until the military dictatorship took over again and started the oppression of the Rohingya minority group. While studying the refugee crisis, I was curious how the rest of the country was functioning.
My mother is a supporter of the Shanta Foundation and reminded me of them when I was learning about the crisis in Myanmar. I concluded this would be the perfect internship opportunity. I promptly emailed their administrator asking about a summer internship. She responded and already had a project for me. I am excited to start with this amazing organization and I believe interning at the Shanta Foundation will answer my questions about the mysterious country of Myanmar. I am looking forward to learning about the country’s culture and how small non-profits, like Shanta run.
I hope to use my background in photo editing software to sort and edit their decades of photos. I was told they needed someone to help with this photo project for the longest time. I am excited to get this off their plates, so they can work on more valuable things. Additionally, I hope I can be the first of many Animas Student to partner with this organization. As a senior, I would love to recruit juniors to do their LINKs with Shanta.
I spent my spring semester at the School for Ethics and Global Leadership (SEGL). During my time there, I studied Myanmar, specifically the Rohingya Refugee Crisis. I became very interested in the country and was intrigued to learn more. I would argue the world was rooting for Myanmar’s path to democracy, until the military dictatorship took over again and started the oppression of the Rohingya minority group. While studying the refugee crisis, I was curious how the rest of the country was functioning.
My mother is a supporter of the Shanta Foundation and reminded me of them when I was learning about the crisis in Myanmar. I concluded this would be the perfect internship opportunity. I promptly emailed their administrator asking about a summer internship. She responded and already had a project for me. I am excited to start with this amazing organization and I believe interning at the Shanta Foundation will answer my questions about the mysterious country of Myanmar. I am looking forward to learning about the country’s culture and how small non-profits, like Shanta run.
I hope to use my background in photo editing software to sort and edit their decades of photos. I was told they needed someone to help with this photo project for the longest time. I am excited to get this off their plates, so they can work on more valuable things. Additionally, I hope I can be the first of many Animas Student to partner with this organization. As a senior, I would love to recruit juniors to do their LINKs with Shanta.
Reflection
8/5/18
My LINK was unorthodox because I did it during the summer not in May like the rest of my peers. I found this challenging because I did not have the three weeks of school were I could be exclusively dedicated to my internship. Instead, I had to balance it with my job, traveling, and transitioning home after a semester abroad. Fortunately, my mentor let me be flexible with my schedule.
My biggest challenge was how long everything took. I spent 5 weeks organizing and deleting thousands of photos on Lightroom. I had trouble staying focused because I had to be on the computer for long periods of time. I realized early on that changing my attitude towards organizing thousands of photos was helpful. It was more important than I thought because while I was doing them my mentor could be doing more important things. She would not have enough time to complete the photo project and do the other development projects she was working on.
Even though I do not see myself working in a non-profit after this internship, I did learn many valuable skills. This internship helped me become more dedicated to work. Moving forward, I will be able to see how any work you do, no matter how redundant, will be beneficial to the bigger picture. This will be helpful in senior year because I have more patience with time consuming work. Most importantly, I will be devoted to all my assignments no matter how small or boring because they all affect my broader education.
My LINK was unorthodox because I did it during the summer not in May like the rest of my peers. I found this challenging because I did not have the three weeks of school were I could be exclusively dedicated to my internship. Instead, I had to balance it with my job, traveling, and transitioning home after a semester abroad. Fortunately, my mentor let me be flexible with my schedule.
My biggest challenge was how long everything took. I spent 5 weeks organizing and deleting thousands of photos on Lightroom. I had trouble staying focused because I had to be on the computer for long periods of time. I realized early on that changing my attitude towards organizing thousands of photos was helpful. It was more important than I thought because while I was doing them my mentor could be doing more important things. She would not have enough time to complete the photo project and do the other development projects she was working on.
Even though I do not see myself working in a non-profit after this internship, I did learn many valuable skills. This internship helped me become more dedicated to work. Moving forward, I will be able to see how any work you do, no matter how redundant, will be beneficial to the bigger picture. This will be helpful in senior year because I have more patience with time consuming work. Most importantly, I will be devoted to all my assignments no matter how small or boring because they all affect my broader education.
Project Description
The main project I did was organizing all the photos the foundation takes on their insight trips using the Lightroom Tagging System. When, I completed that I was in charge in choosing photos from the archives for their assortment of cards. These cards are sent to donors and supporters of the organization. I made a holiday, thank you, blank, and in your honor card. I felt very honored to be part of such an important process. The holiday cards brings an average of twelve thousand dollars annually to them. I was also task with corresponding with Fresh off the Press, their printer. I went through four rounds of proofs until we could finalize the cards. Afterwards, I wrote messages in all 450 holiday cards, addressed them, and stuffed them with donation slips.
When I was waiting for the printers to be ready, I did grant research for my mentor, the Director of Philanthropy. I learned that many major corporations have foundations. I researched a variety of grant programs these companies offered. From the hundreds I searched, unfortunately, I only found a handful that fit our criteria.
When I was waiting for the printers to be ready, I did grant research for my mentor, the Director of Philanthropy. I learned that many major corporations have foundations. I researched a variety of grant programs these companies offered. From the hundreds I searched, unfortunately, I only found a handful that fit our criteria.
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