Working at Body Politic as their Social Media and Graphic design intern has been such a positive experience in a number of ways. This position has incorporated both my personal and academic passions. As a Rhetoric and Art double major, creating content for the two social media campaigns we launched over the internship allowed me to apply my current knowledge of each discipline into one field of work. Posting the content I created on a public platform with the intention of marketing our brand and resources was so exciting, as all of the other social media opportunities I had been a part of prior to this internship has just been advertising local business. However, having a global outreach through the Body Politic Instagram was so invigorating.
The purpose of these campaigns and my particular role in them also tapped into a more personal interest of mine. Throughout the semester, Body Politic facilitated a global, COVID-19 patient support group. The pandemic has simultaneously been a collective experience, yet everyone has been maneuvering the pandemic and the possible (in some cases real) illness of loved ones in different ways. Furthermore, the ways in which people of different demographics have been affected by Coronavirus is not equal. People with pre-existing conditions, poor people, BIPOC, and women, etc. have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic because of problems rooted in healthcare systems, racial conflict, and labor rights. The ways in which my job at Body Politic was able to connect COVID patients to our support group and broadcast their voices to those who continued to disregard the seriousness of the pandemic gave true meaning and weight to my work.
I also found that the leadership of our organization reflected the diversity and experiences of people we provided resources for. Many of my co-workers had had the virus and many experiences what is called ‘long-COVID’, where they, whether testing positive for the virus or not, have recurring symptoms even after the acute, two-week phase of the virus. Body Politic’s “for us, by us” dynamic gave me the reassurance that that we were providing reliable resources and have patients’ best interest at heart. This experience also reinforced my belief that any organization or corporation, especially those conducting grassroots or social justice work, should have representative and inclusive leadership.
Lastly, though I had my own expectations of how this job would exist at the intersections of rhetoric, art, and social justice, I was pleasantly surprised at how it solidified for me that the journalism, media, and publishing industry is where I envision myself in the near future.
Experiences like Elea’s are made possible by the Whitman Internship Grant, which provides funding for students to participate in unpaid internships at both for-profit and non-profit organizations. We are happy to be sharing blog posts from students who were supported by either a summer, fall, spring, or year-long Whitman Internship Grant at organizations, businesses, and research labs all around the world. To learn how you could secure a Whitman Internship Grant or host a Whitman intern at your organization, contact Assistant Director for Internship Programs, Mitzy Rodriguez