My name is Zurain Zeeshan, and I am an international student from Pakistan. After completing my sophomore year at Whitman, I got an opportunity to work with a non-profit organization called Community Council over the summer in Walla Walla, WA. As a Computer Science and Economics student, my interests directed me towards the field of Data Analytics and Data Science, and this opportunity gave me the first stepping stone into this new path. Community Council helps local communities of Walla Walla, Columbia and Milton-Freewater by providing them insights regarding education and affordable housing through the data that they collect.
As a Data Analyst intern, I got to explore many different areas of the analytics World. The best part about working with a small non-profit like Community Council, was that I could experience the full data journey from start to finish which gave me a clear picture of how things work. I worked alongside my supervisor, Catherine Veninga, who is the community research coordinator at the organization and also an experienced data analyst. I learned the step by step approach to completing a project for analysis. First, collecting relevant data from reliable data sources and compiling all of it on Excel. Second, cleaning that data using different filters and tags and eliminating any kind of duplicates or values that did not match and were incorrect. Third, using Tableau to visualize the data by making appropriate interactive data dashboards that are easy to use and understand by target users.
In the beginning of my internship, I faced many difficulties in understanding the new softwares and how to use it correctly. My initial projects took me more time to finish and after a long way of training and learning, I started becoming better and more efficient in my work. My coworkers were very supportive throughout my internship and gave me good suggestions that helped me in my work. Now, towards the end of my work here at Community Council, I am now working on multiple projects at the same time which require more in depth research and analysis, and is improving my technical skills and problem solving skills which is very valuable for me now and for my career.
I aspire to become a Data Analyst in the FinTech field and the skills and experience that I have gained by working at Community Council is a huge stepping stone for me. By giving me a clear picture of how data works from being in its raw form, to its final visual form, made me much more excited and interested in working in this field in the future. A workplace like Community Council has set a benchmark for me and I would look for these same qualities in my future employers. All this was made possible through the Whitman Internship Grant, which opened this door and allowed me to have an experience that I will never forget.
Experiences like Zurain Zeeshan’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.