Showing posts with label interns. Show all posts
Showing posts with label interns. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Telling the Tutor/Mentor Connection Story

As I've mentioned in the past, one of the most difficult parts of my job is to explain the Tutor/Mentor Connection quickly and effectively, while not misleading people into thinking of it as something it's not, such as a simple membership organization. For this reason, we have been working with a number of interns from IIT who are helping us to animate some of our concept maps and links libraries in order to make the information more engaging and straightforward. Check out this animated resource map that our interns Sungjoong and Gunwoong have been working on! I'm currently recording some audio voiceovers that will come up when you first load the page as well as when you scroll over the various page elements.

They're also doing this for our homework help links and Tutor/Mentor Connection strategy map. So check out their progress and be sure to stay tuned for the finished product in a week or so!

This type of project is an example of something that tech savvy volunteers like Sungjoong and Gunwoong can do from a distance. Since we are sharing strategic planning information via our wiki's, anyone, from Seoul to San Fransisco to the South Side can be helping us to build and share knowledge about what we and others are doing to help at-risk kids. What role can you play?

Monday, April 13, 2009

Intern Spotlight: Meagan Hermanowicz

This week I'd like to draw attention to a volunteer who's not a mentor here at Cabrini Connections. Her name is Meagan Hermanowicz and she's a DePaul University Senior who is currently serving as our Media Outreach Intern. Meagan grew up in Northbrook and ended up going to DePaul University for a number of reasons: it was close to home, her sister was a student there when she applied and it is a well-rounded school, which was particularly important since she didn't know quite what she wanted to study while she was applying. In fact, she started off as a psychology major and eventually switched to business, with a particular focus on marketing and advertising. When asked how she got into business and public relations she laughs and tells me, "I actually started off planning parties for my friends. I'm the kind of person who's very persistent with people, so that's what really got me into it." Needless to say, she threw some great parties.

She got involved here at Cabrini Connections by responding to a flyer that I put up, looking for someone to help fill the vacuum created when our former development and media outreach coordinator left. When asked what in particular piqued her interest about the position, she says "It definitely just seemed like a good thing to do. Most internships I was finding weren't anything I'd really enjoy. I like the fact that I can work on my own time, socializing and networking, meeting lots of new people. I like making connections with people and I like what Cabrini Connections is doing. It's really beneficial for the community."

Since she came on board roughly 2 months ago, Meagan has thrown herself into her role, doing everything from researching reporters and sending out press releases about our recent Art and Film Festival, to securing raffle prize donations and negotiating free poster printing at a fantastic local print shop Document Technologies (DTI). She arranged for some artists in her personal network to donate artwork to the Art Festival and has been doing everything she can to get out the word and secure sponsorship dollars for both our upcoming Year-End Dinner and Golf Benefit, which will take place on June 4th and July 16th respectively. She is also currently helping us find volunteers to work with our kids to help them prepare entertainment for the Year-End Dinner. We are so happy to have such a kind, passionate and enthusiastic youth advocate interning for us and want to make sure that all her hard work doesn't go unrecognized. So, thanks so much for all your help thus far, we wish all college students were so willing to get involved and use their talents to help bring positive social change to students and communities who need our help!

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Media Outreach Internship

So, with the recent departure of our Media Outreach Coordinator, it has become necessary to look elsewhere in our constant quest for publicity and media attention. Since I obviously can't do everything that is necessary to get ample press coverage for our events, brand our many websites and publicize our big mentoring partnerships and initiatives, I'm trying to recruit someone who can. Therefore I've created a flexible internship position here at Cabrini Connections called the Media Outreach Internship that will assist me with all of the above things, plus any additional public relations that arise. I'm hoping that with the job market as bad as it is, people still reveling in Obama's victory and its concomitant spirit of community engagement, and the need for real-life P.R. experience among college students, we can attract one or more unpaid interns that will fulfill some of these roles and bring their networks into the fold here at Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection.

So, if you or someone you know is looking for an opportunity to gain real-life experience in Public Relations while at the same time helping at-risk kids succeed, please check out this internship. It's essentially an opportunity to work with us to create your own internship based on your particular strengths. Though we haven't worked out anything with particular universities to earn credit, this unpaid internship would be a great opportunity to fulfill an internship, community service or service learning requirement. So, if you or anyone you know would be interested in this internship, please have them call us at 312-492-9614 or email me at chris.warrens.mail (at) gmail.com

Thanks!