As a French Political Science major double minoring in Sociology and Psychology, I struggled to find an internship that would encompass my various areas of interest. Besides my academic activities, I also write and edit for The Tribune, a student-led independent newspaper. Since the purpose of an internship for me was to find out what I wanted to do after my upcoming graduation, I was looking to spend my summer in an environment where I would be able to apply my theoretical knowledge of those several domains.
I ended up working at Educonnexion, an independent organization providing educational tools and support on civic engagement and participation, because of its diversified range of activities. Educonnexion’s mission transpires mainly through interactive workshops organized in schools, NGOs, and community groups. Its core values revolve around social justice and the decolonization of practices- values that I strongly associate with. Educonnexion also leads other projects such as a mentoring project to help young people from disadvantaged backgrounds develop their creativity and express themselves. My main objective when applying for this internship was to get the opportunity to experience an actual work environment more concrete than the theoretical aspect of the academic context. I wanted to test my adaptation skills and discover whether I was able to apply my knowledge to real-world situations. Educonnexion allowed me to participate in concrete projects carried out in the field.
As an intern for Educonnexion, my first mission was to assist Jean-Baptiste Ndiaye (responsible for school and community training and activities) with the creation and programming of workshops. I had the opportunity to participate in the creation of a new workshop on non-violent communication and accompany my supervisor to schools to witness some of the organization’s workshops being animated for students. Additionally, under the supervision of Executive Director Stéphanie Germain, my second mandate consisted of coordinating a documentary film project in partnership with the secondary school Louis-Jospeh Papineau, which welcomes an enormous amount of migrant youth every year. This project aims to give those students the opportunity to tell their story of immigration in their own words to shed light on their difficult background and share their understanding of racism to raise awareness on those issues. This internship was a great way to develop my research and development capabilities as well as project management skills by combining office work and field implementation.
As enjoyable as this experience has been, it has also brought its challenges. Indeed, I initially struggled with the alternation between working remotely and going to the office once a week. This was especially hard at the beginning of my journey as I was entering a completely new environment on my own. At first, even though I met my colleagues, and they gave me a warm welcome, I felt isolated without clear tasks assigned to me; making me feel useless. However, with time and the arrival of my fellow interns, I began finding my place within the organization. The projects I was assigned were only getting started and I had the chance to see them develop and participate actively in that growth. I quickly learned that I was not the only one adapting to a new environment as my colleagues were also adjusting to my presence. But we all found a balance.
With the documentary project, I was able to work directly in the field more than I imagined and it was an amazing experience. One of the highlights of my internship was getting to work with the students on this project. It was definitely challenging to manage a group of young people who did not always speak French or English fluently, but it was incredibly rewarding to see them open up and involve themselves fully in that project. Another highlight was Educonnexion’s Annual General Assembly (AGA), which I helped organize and coordinate. This event strengthened our team bonding and made us interns feel completely included within the organization. I learned a lot at Educonnexion but I also had fun, and I feel grateful for this experience.
I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Wendy Patton Keys who funded my internship and without whom none of this would have been possible. Without her generous donation, my stay in Montreal would have been compromised and I’m not sure I could have experienced what I did. From the bottom of my heart, thank you Ms. Wendy Patton Keys.
