I was accepted to the Bonner Leaders Program at Augsburg College at the end of my first year in school.  This is a service-based work study program encouraging leadership development for students dedicated to civic engagement.  Each year students can choose an organization to work with around issues they’re passionate about.  After serving my first year at Urban Ventures Learning Lab as a Teaching Assistant, I was chosen as the Communications Intern for the Bonner Program at Augsburg.

I was very excited because this is a position aimed more toward my career goals and for an organization that I and very passionate about.  When I started, the program had undergone staffing changes and due to budget cuts they no longer have a full-time staff member dedicated solely to the program.  So my responsibilities grew beyond communications-oriented tasks.  My responsibilities originally were to manage internal and external communications, create and manage social media accounts, plan and organize meetings and events, design and distribute marketing materials, and redesign the webpage.  However, when the office intern handling the administrative tasks left to study abroad, I took on more projects and tasks on the administrative side of things.

The most rewarding experience of my internship was seeing how my leadership style in the program motivated other students to lead and organize meetings and events.  It made me see that if I can do that in the Bonner Program, I am well on my way to accomplishing my career goal of motivating people around the services of nonprofit organizations.

This internship taught me that I am self-motivated, efficient, driven worker. I will be continuing this position in the fall of 2013 and training in the new intern before graduating in December.

Click here to learn more about the Bonner Foundation.