Today continues our intern stories.  We asked them to tell us about their experience during the program, and thought it might be interesting if you heard it from them.  Today’s post is from  Elizabeth Moody, who will attend Ohio state University.

It was only by purest chance that I heard about the Heinz Endowments Summer Youth Philanthropy Program.  My high school guidance department webpage, which was hardly ever updated and I only checked sporadically, mentioned this internship.  It sounded intriguing, and from the information I could glean from the Endowments website it looked like it could be a good program.  At that point I didn’t have any plans for the upcoming summer, so on a bitter cold Thursday afternoon I hustled down to Dominion Tower to attend the information session.  Afterwards, I still wasn’t certain what all the internship would entail, but I was definitely interested. 

I was a little conflicted about applying because I wasn’t planning on going into grantmaking, and I didn’t want to take the space away from someone who was serious about it.  But, as I would later discover, few if any of the interns had decided to go into grantmaking, we were here just to see what it was all about.  My main areas of interest are foreign languages and linguistics, but I’m also interested in political science, history, and other social studies related topics.  I thought that this internship would be a good opportunity to learn about the world of grantmaking and non-profits, and it certainly was. 

But more than that, I learned about the many amazing projects taking place in my city and individuals who are making a difference.  I learned about the great responsibility that grantmakers have and the seriousness with which they take their jobs: researching best practices, evaluating and addressing community issues, working with grantees to ensure that programs achieve their full potential, and funding organizations that accomplish great things.

I’ve had a little difficulty explaining this internship to other people.

“Well, we develop a request for proposal dealing with an environmental topic, but we also do site visits and talk to different people about a variety of topics, and we also did a radio piece and a short film.”  I think my grandmother is still under the impression that I’ve been working for the ketchup company.  But I have been telling anyone who will listen about all I’ve learned and how much I’ve enjoyed myself, and I am so glad to have had the opportunity to participate. 

Working for a non-profit could very well be among my future career prospects, so I’m appreciative that this internship helped me explore that world.  A huge ‘thank you’ goes out to the Heinz Endowments and The Pittsburgh Foundation for a great summer.

- Elizabeth Moody