Like many college freshmen, I was not entirely sure what I wanted to do the summer after my freshman year. All I knew is that I wanted an opportunity to grow and explore my interests, and that brought me to the Social Impact Fellowship program with the Institute for Social Impact and Leadership at Scheller. I have always had an interest in giving back to my community and volunteer work, so this program was right up my alley. I was drawn to apply to work with Umi Feeds because the organization’s mission of reducing food waste and aiming for equality aligns with my beliefs.
As a communications intern, the primary assignments I worked on were monthly newsletters and social media posts. I helped write the content that was in each month’s newsletter based on each month’s happenings. I then turned the content of the monthly newsletters into posts for Instagram and Facebook to ensure we reached the broadest audience possible.
Throughout my time as a communications intern I was able to help grow the social media pages for both Umi Feeds and the Whitehall Terrace community garden. Maximizing social media engagement is a goal we had that was further aimed to increase volunteer support, donations, and raise awareness about the organization’s mission. I worked to help increase engagement by creating visually appealing posts for Instagram and Facebook. It was very rewarding to hear that my work on growing the social media led to a full volunteer day at the community garden.
Working with Umi Feeds these past 10 weeks has been a very valuable experience for me. I worked with Erica Clahar, the founder and executive director of Umi Feeds. Throughout our weekly or bi-weekly calls I have gotten to know Erica both personally and professionally. A typical call between us consisted of working on that week’s projects, brainstorming ideas to improve social media content, and catching up on life. She has two daughters around my age, so I felt like working with her gave me some motherly advice. She has exemplified that it is important to give back to others while taking care of yourself, which is a lesson that will stick with me.
At first, I was intimidated going into this internship as only a freshman. I was worried that my lack of experience would hold me back. I learned that my lack of experience would not hold me back, but my worries would. By the end of the summer, I learned that I should trust myself and learn along the way instead of letting fear hold me back, and I will carry that lesson into my sophomore year.