I have exchanged emails with my supervisor that informed me of an upcoming service event. Although not fully finalized I have begun speculating the type of event that it’ll be. We normally partake in events that require hands on interaction, be it cleaning up around Floyd Bennett Field, or serving food, or even delivering gifts as we did during Christmas eve. As for service event notices, we receive very plain emails with a list of details such as dates, locations and what the service is about. My supervisor wants to spruce things up by developing news letters so that other Americorp members can enjoy what they’re reading regarding our events. As I mentioned in a previous post, this internship correlates with my current job as an after school program aid and one of the requirements my position calls for is Literacy and the development of parent and student engagement events within my site. Our latest one is a water donation to help the citizens of Flint, Michigan. We ask the students and parents to donate water in any amount they can to be sent to those in need. I was assigned my first task which was to develop a flyer that will be printed and handed/posted around my site to inform others of this cause. Communication by emails within this internship are extremely fast, I normally wait about half a day or more to receive responses but here, I receive feedback and responses within minutes, it might be not be a big deal for some but this is honestly exciting.

After a few weeks with no luck, I decided to have a chat with my supervisor from my job. As I mentioned before, I work for an after-school program as an AmeriCorps member, which is a civil society program that is funded by the U.S. Federal Government, corporations and other donors that engage young and older adults in community service work that promote the development of community relations. As a member, depending on your status, after your completion of required hours you receive an education reward for up to $5,750 that can be put towards tuition, graduate classes and even existing student loans. Many Americorp positions include after-school tutoring, home development, and reception work. I am a part-time Americorps member and my position in this service is in after-school tutoring. My professor told me to ask if there is a graphic design department within my service where I can volunteer as a student. Not only would this satisfy my internship needs, it would also be beneficial to my hours within AmeriCorps and it will fit perfectly into my busy schedule. I sent an email to my supervisor asking about any available positions, she was able to respond quickly and informed me that there was something available during Thursdays and Fridays. My responsibilities will include helping with the design of our newsletters, site flyers, and our monthly service event flyers. There is little design aspect to these things and I’m pretty excited to finally be able to input my own ideas into them.

As far as my internship search goes, it’s not very far. I am honestly doubting myself and I’m not sure if I’d be able to find something that will accommodate my already tight schedule. I am narrowing my search down, I’m aiming towards any start ups due to the fact that I have heard many times over that they are more willing to be flexible with the hours they need you to come in. A paid internship is more of a bonus at this point, I already work and get paid at my regular job and I feel as if I’m placed somewhere that pays me, I’d have to be extremely punctual and there would be far less wiggle room to work with my already established schedule. I have scoured craigslist, and indeed for any open positions, preferably in the Brooklyn area of NYC, because I do not wish to add any more length to my weekly commute.

This job search is a bit rough, there are some things that I need to take care of first and foremost being my resume. I haven’t made any updates to my resume in over a year. Being a full-time student here at City Tech, and living at home, I haven’t had much need for a job considering I was pretty well off with having minimal expenses to take care of. But coming into my last years at City Tech, I’ve had to search for opportunities to help pay for my tuition. I’m currently a member of AmeriCorps and with my work and school schedule combined, adding an internship might prove to be quite difficult. I’m looking to see if there are any in school internship opportunities available. I hope to find one soon. I was a bit relieved to find out I wasn’t the only student without an internship, but I don’t want to be the only one in the following weeks to come. With that being said, time to make some updates to my resume.