Last year, for our birthday, we announced a long overdue Internship Program. Today, in anticipation of our next birthday update, and after a year of experimenting, we’re announcing some slight tweaks to how we’re doing to be doing internships from here on.
First, let us say two things: (1) our Spring Intern Jess was absolutely amazing; and (2) our Spring Intern Jess was absolutely amazing. She was so amazing we had to say it twice.
We were fortunate to be able to work with her and positively overwhelmed by all the contributions she was able to make to the Safe Zone Project in such a short amount of time.
The changes we’re making to the Internship Program are in the hopes that we can recreate a similarly wonderful internship experience in the future (for us and for the intern), knowing what we’re good at, and knowing where we have room to grow.
Now, the changes!
In addition to Seasonal Interns (the “general” intern positions we have throughout the year in Fall, Spring, Summer), we’re going to have ongoing openings for a new type of intern: Project Interns!
Project Interns will be selected based on applications to contribute a specific project to the Safe Zone Project (e.g., a 201 version of our foundational curriculum, a video walkthrough of the facilitator guide).
The big differences between “Seasonal Interns” and “Project Interns,” as we’re thinking about them, are the types of guidance and supervision we’ll provide, what is being worked on, and the timeframe of the internship term.
| Seasonal Interns | Project Interns | |
| Guidance/Supervision | Weekly check-in meetings; Slack team membership for daily open communication | Initial meeting to establish the project and scope; emails or impromptu calls/meetings as questions come up |
| What is being Worked On | A combination of tasks related to the Safe Zone Project at large and the intern’s personal project | The project that the intern applied to work on, or submitted for us to co-create |
| The timeframe of Internship | Three months, with the expectation of at least 4 hours of week commitment | However long the project takes, from a few days to six months |
We’re hoping this change will help clarify the expectations for potential interns, as well as set us up to better provide guidance and help.
For Seasonal Interns, the list of projects we’re hoping to host can be an inspiration for what personal project you work on during their term.
And for people who have a really specific, meaningful project in mind you want to contribute, but may not be able to commit to the Seasonal Intern requirements, we’ve got you covered.
Finally, this summer, instead of hiring a Seasonal Intern, we’re only looking for a Project Intern to help contribute to our annual birthday update. We are, however, still accepting Seasonal Intern applications on a rolling basis, and plan to hire a Fall Intern this August.
In a lot of ways, this “Project Intern” process is how we created the Safe Zone Project to begin with (project by project that we worked on together, or individually) — just without the guidance, or the foundation in place for our ideas to live. Now, we’re happy to provide both to you, and invite more people to help continue to improve and expand upon this project with us!
– Meg & Sam