Emilia and co-workers
My name is Emilia Rojas, class of 2024, and I am spending the summer in Walla Walla, Washington working with Kol Medina the CEO of Blue mountain community foundation and the rest of the foundation. When searching for internships I was not exactly sure of what I wanted to do, all I knew is I wanted to be involved in my community. So, I figured a non-profit organization was the perfect way to start figuring out what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. BMCF is invested in expanding the Blue Mountain region by supporting other nonprofits organizations in the community through generous donations in order to meet their needs, which is something that attracted me very quickly. The Foundation offered to help me explore all areas of a nonprofit charity bank in order to find my true interests all while seeking connections with other community organizations.
Being the first intern at the Blue Mountain Community Foundation has been a unique experience. The first couple of weeks I began working on small tasks related to reviewing and fixing database profiles, reviewing and creating an organized collection of historical documents, and managing BMCF’s social media posts. These sorts of tasks have allowed me to connect with the entire staff at BMCF, building important connections with them and understanding the importance of each position.
Now, a month into my internship, I am now working my way into more elaborate tasks and responsibilities. Working with the scholarship manager, Liz McClure, I have started creating a new BMCF website using WIX. This has allowed me to put into practice my computer and marketing skills I have gained as a Student Career Advisor.
Aside from the website, I am now working along Rodney Outlaw, another member of BMCF, on the Running Waters Equity fund. This fund is dedicated to working on equity in the Blue Mountain region. Although there are a variety of equity issues, the Running Waters Equity Fund is beginning to work on racial equity and focusing on a solution to even out the racial disparity in non-organizations and help tear-down the ongoing marginalization within our community. My focus in this project is to define “person of color” for the purpose of the project and then gather data in order to begin working on a solution to grow the number of P.O.C’s working in the non-profit community.
I enjoyed the flexibility and support the team offered each other as well as recognizing the importance of each member. Looking into this aspect of the organization, I hope to find a workplace that has these exact qualities. It is now more clear of what kind of job I would like to pursue. It is a place that builds upon teamwork, engages in work that is both meaningful and impactful to a larger community. Working at BMCF has been a great experience and introduction to the nonprofit world. Rather than only experience one non-profit sector and its management, I was able to learn about a variety of non-profit organizations existing in the Blue Mountain region. BMCF has also helped me develop hard skills such as Microsoft Office, writing effective emails, marketing and communication techniques etc. The Whitman Internship Grant has been a great opportunity for me to explore this; building connections with locals, interacting with donors and recipients and experiencing the dedication the foundation puts into helping others around the community is an experience that I will never forget and will continue to apply to future endeavors.
Experiences like Emilia’s are made possible by the Whitman Internship Grant, which provides funding for students to participate in unpaid internships at nonprofit, some for-profit, and government organizations. We are happy to be sharing blog posts from students who were supported by either a summer, fall, spring, or year-long grants 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 us at ccec_info@whitman.edu.