Cecilia Camlin, Junior History major, shares about their internship with Foodwise Nonprofit in Northern California.
“My name is Cecilia Camlin and I am a Junior History major. This summer I was able to get the opportunity to intern at a non profit organization called Foodwise that focused on food equity, educational programs, and supporting farms and farmers within Northern California. I have been working under the events coordinator doing fundraising and event planning. It has been really exciting to see how an organization operates behind the scenes, especially related to fundraising and development. My main project involved the planning and execution of an auction at a major fundraising event in July. Many of my day to day tasks involved emailing donors to request donations, confirming donation logistics, and writing auction package descriptions. I would say writing auction package descriptions was one of the more difficult tasks because I had not had any prior experience with copywriting (or really flowery or creative writing) generally. I also had to prepare volunteer materials for the event, as I would be assigned three people to help me with the auction.
The day of the event involved giving an orientation to these volunteers, setting up the auction 
according to an auction display plan that I had been working on, encouraging guests to bid, and breaking down the event. The actual day of the event was probably the most intimidating part of the whole internship but I was happy to accomplish a kind of leadership role that I hadn’t predicted having. I hope to continue to develop more skills related to administrative and planning tasks as my internship comes to a close. I also hope to somehow incorporate my academics more into what I learned this summer – for example thinking more about nutritional history and the history of food equity.
This experience has definitely been a meaningful part of my Whitman career because I appreciated being able to get an insight into professional/office work for the first time. The Whitman Internship Grant was especially helpful in allowing me to work at a non profit with more limited funds and gain invaluable experience while also being supported by the grant. I hope to learn more about what I am interested in through this internship. For example, I really enjoyed working at farmers markets and learning about the relationship building that fundraising requires, while I didn’t as much enjoy the public-facing and performative aspect of selling auction packages. This is information I wouldn’t have known before my internship began, and I’m happy to have that knowledge now.”