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Gaining Real World Experience with an ElevateEdAZ Internship

Recently, the Greater Phoenix Chamber Foundation (Foundation) launched ElevateEdAZ, a program designed to prepare individuals for college and career. Through curated business to school connections, employers will more closely engage with schools by aligning classes and curriculum with workforce needs, increasing student exposure to career pathways, and creating opportunities for students to apply academics through work-based learning (WBL).

The program hosted its first virtual intern, providing a professional, meaningful experience for a highly motivated and committed high school student to influence ElevateEdAZ’s social media platforms. Read more about Ana Perez’s experience as an intern and why, according to her, more businesses should consider hosting interns.

Hear from ElevateEdAZ’s First Intern

Throughout my senior year, I was hoping to find an internship to gain professional experience before starting my first year of college; however, five months ago, my senior year was cut short, and I assumed my chances of obtaining an internship were slim. Fortunately, I came across a social media post about an internship opportunity and did not hesitate to reach out and apply. This internship ended up being for social media marketing, which meant I would be creating posts for various social media platforms for ElevateEdAZ, a program of the Foundation. When I shared with my mom that I had been hired as ElevateEdAZ’s intern, she was shocked because she had no idea that students my age had access to these kinds of experiences. I did not expect to come across an internship in social media marketing either!

The Foundation team welcomed me. I learned about the different departments, met other employees and learned their roles, and gained an understanding of how everyone works together within the Chamber and Foundation.As far as my responsibilities, I had the distinct opportunity to launch ElevateEdAZ’s social media presence. I went through training on what kind of language, tone, handles, hashtags, and images to use to ensure that the posts I was creating would fit the brand. I was responsible for translating the content I was provided into messaging that would effectively reach the targeted audience in each platform. I drafted my ideas into documents and received feedback from my managers until the drafts were of the quality we were aiming for. After I received approval, I began scheduling posts for each platform. It was cool to look at ElevateEdAZ’s published posts and show them to my family. Aside from creating social media posts, I attended team meetings, where members would discuss their goals and where they need support. Although I was not going to be around to support other projects, I was encouraged to sit in to get the experience of what it is like to be a part of the team. I was addressed as such, and it made me feel very welcome and included! The fact that I was included in all the team meetings gave me a really good idea and feel of what it’s like to really be employed with the Greater Phoenix Chamber Foundation.

From this internship, I not only learned about what it’s like to work with the Foundation, but also a lot about myself. I learned how to swap between tasks, work around other people’s schedules, be courteous of others’ time, and to communicate my needs and concerns. Overall, the Foundation gave me so much room to learn while also being able to share my ideas. Because of this opportunity, I feel so much more confident knowing that I now have the experience that I was looking to gain!

Looking back at how much I was able to accomplish with the Foundation, I realize that these kinds of opportunities are not as common for high school students as they could be. I wonder what it would look like if other students my age could have more access to internships. I hope that more businesses and organizations will consider providing internship opportunities for students who are not yet in college.

Written by  Ana Perez, Summer 2020 Social Media and Marketing Intern for ElevateEdAZ, a program of the Greater Phoenix Chamber Foundation

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