Internship - Kirbo

Korrin B.

July 3, 2010 - 11:30 AM

I have mentioned the Kirbo building in my previous posts a few times, but have yet to really go into it. Therefore, this post shall be dedicated to the place my internship calls home - the Kirbo Building.

The Kirbo Building is an old bank building that was donated to The Carter Center by Charles H. Kirbo over twenty years ago. As The Carter Center began to expand, there wasn't enough space left at the main Center to hold everybody. Therefore, much of the development department was moved out to the Kirbo Building. Kirbo is about a ten to fifteen minute walk from the main Carter Center. It's a pretty nice walk, although with this kind of heat, it's also good to have friends with cars for when you need to make several quick trips between the two buildings throughout the day.

Kirbo is home to five interns, one of whom splits her time between Kirbo and the main Center. I am the intern for the major gifts and research section, then there is one for planned giving, another for the annual fund, one for Middle East/Asia giving, and the last intern (who is the one who splits her time between the two buildings) actually isn't in development, but is working on analyzing the quality of the health programs.

Since we are a small group of interns and located away from the Peace Pavilion where most of the interns are placed, we have formed a pretty strong bond and have become great friends. We have Kirbo lunches every day and sometimes even organize our own "Kirbo date nights." We are a pretty fun group and consider ourselves the oddballs, explaining why we were chosen to be placed away from the main center! Our location, which could initially be a hurdle for interns trying to feel connected with the program, has turned out to be a great sense of pride and camaraderie for us. When we do visit the main center, we roll in as the Kirbo Crew and all of the interns seem to know us as such.

Kirbo is also nice because we each get our own cubicles and work space. In the Peace Pavilion, it can get pretty crowded with interns and you can't really get settled because no one space is truly designated as your's.

I was a little nervous about being off in the Kirbo Building to begin with, but now that I am a solid four weeks into my internship program, I could not be happier that it is where I have been placed. It is a great group to work with, very mellow, and just a hop, skip, and a jump away from the gorgeous grounds of the main Carter Center. We have been going up to the main center quite a bit lately to have our lunch out by one of the few ponds up there and it is always very relaxing. We have also gotten into the habit of stopping by the grocery store beforehand and buying all sorts of snacks and then all of us covering a table with them and feasting away! I feel happy to be with such a great group of interns.