Life Meetings

Korrin B.

November 21, 2010 - 6:30 PM

Throughout fall term, I have been meeting weekly with the PPPM Internship Program Director, Rhonda Smith. Last year, I worked with Rhonda while I was applying to various competitive summer internships. We made a great team and I ended up landing an internship at The Carter Center in Atlanta. This year, I will be graduating and hence, I have named our meetings for this year my "Life Meetings." This year, I'm not just applying for a summer internship, but applying for opportunities that will help to shape some of my future goals post-graduation. I have decided to focus on applying for three very selective programs and then have some back up jobs lined up. The three fellowships I will be applying for are as follows:

New York City Urban Fellows
This is a nine-month fellowship in New York City that combines work in the Mayoral offices and various City agencies with a seminar series on urban issues that impact public policy. I am hoping that this opportunities could place me in a position that would allow me to learn more about how large cities handle homelessness and which organizations work together to battle this epidemic. This application is due in January and is quite intensive, including writing a 1,500-word policy recommendation, a 1,000-word personal statement, a resume, three letters of recommendation, an application form, and a transcript. The Fellows also get the opportunity to take trips to Albany and Washington, D.C. This would be an incredible opportunity and I have been looking for an excuse to live in NYC for a while!

City Hall Fellows
This is a 12-month program in San Francisco that aims to develop strong leadership skills in Fellows through learning how to work in local city government. Fellows get the chance to evaluate and help create local policies. Fellows act as full-time employees with the City. I love San Francisco and would greatly enjoy the chance to work in such a beautiful city, helping to better it through local government work. The application for the next session has not been posted yet, but the deadline for this one is sometime in March.

Bill Emerson National Hunger Fellows Program
This is a yearlong program with the Congressional Hunger Center in Washington, D.C. Six months of the program are spent in D.C. learning how to work on hunger issues from the policy level and the other six months are spent placed somewhere in the U.S. working with a nonprofit or other direct service organization to learn about ending hunger at the community level. I think this would be such a great interdisciplinary approach to a topic that I feel very strongly about. The application is due in January and includes a resume, application form, personal statement, and two short essays.

I am trying to take these applications one piece at a time so they don't become too overwhelming as I try to also work on my thesis and class work. So far, I have gotten all of my letters of recommendation in line and have polished up my resume to fit on one page. Next, I plan to start outlining the essays. I can already see the hours of editing ahead. I'm ready!