I am an undergraduate student majoring in political science and minoring in history. I also have a deep interest in social justice and wish to attend law school after completing my undergraduate studies. When originally applying for my internships, I wanted to work with a company or organization with a mission that I resonated with my academic and personal goals. Meaning, one that would allow me to deepen my knowledge in my current fields of studies as well as help a community that I belong to.
This summer, I have had the wonderful opportunity to intern for DESTA’s Know Your Rights Team. DESTA Black Community Network is based in Montreal’s Little Burgundy and serves participants aged 18+ with the goal of helping them reach their educational, employability, and entrepreneurial goals through a holistic and individualized approach across the province. The Know Your Rights program offers help with re-entry through support services to currently incarcerated and those re-entering back into society.
When I first joined the organization, I did not have a clearly defined role because they were going through internal shifts. Therefore, I was mostly assigned to multiple teams and helped with researching for funding opportunities for the organization. During this period, when I had leftover time, I would write ideas of programs that could be developed with money allocated by the grants. This effort was recognized by my coworkers who all were very fond of the ideas that I came up with. My idea for a community event was in the planification phase and was supposed to take place on August 28, but due to issues regarding the availability of funding it had to be dropped. Furthermore, as I am one of the few fluent French-speakers I have had, on multiple occasions, the opportunity to communicate with provincial government facilities in the name of the organization. And as of lately, I have been focusing helping the planning of a workshop that DESTA hopes to work with prisons in implementing. This project is a big one that will include conducting research in hopes of finding ways to reduce recidivism.
This internship has been a highlight of my summer. I have managed to integrate myself to the team well, which has allowed me to have my internship extended. I even received an offer of employment after my internship officially ends on August 30, that is currently being negotiated. I am grateful for the opportunity to intern with DESTA because of how all my pre-internship goals have been met. I was able to learn new skills as well as better my existing ones. All the research that I did allow me to refine my abilities at finding literature. My French skills were required in writing a grievance letter for an incarcerated man who needed urgent medical care after being denied the right to see a doctor. Two days after being sent to the provincial human rights organization, the man was sent to see a doctor. The direct impact that my actions have had on the life of a person was the greatest highlight of my summer.
Though my internship has been great, I have encountered a few challenges that have made it quite difficult to handle at times. First, working in the re-entry program and hearing the difficult lives that many of the participants have led, as well as the atrocities taking place in the Justice system, has been difficult to handle. Thankfully, I have been able to rely on the support of my coworkers, friends in family when it was especially difficult to handle. Although my coworkers have been mostly great at supporting me it has been difficult at times throughout my internship to get a fast reply from them as communication has been a bit difficult, meaning that the internship felt, at times, a bit disorganized. But lately, with the addition of a new member with the task of improving organization, things have been going a lot smoother and I have become more productive.
