Days in the Lives of the GlobalPittsburgh Summer 2014 Interns - "We Don't Really Have Typical Days"

Here at GlobalPittsburgh we have five summer 2014 interns: Alexa, Siyu, Ellen, Colette and Lori. They have been assisting the GlobalPittsburgh staff for the past three months. I interviewed three of the interns and asked them this question; what have they been working on during this time?

GlobalPittsburgh's Summer 2014
interns (from left) Siyu, Ellen,
Colette, Lori and Alexa.

Siyu works directly under Gail Shrott, Director of our International Leaders Program. During the months of May and June he worked on organizing the programs for our incoming delegates. In July, Siyu worked on internal matters such as organizing the host family files. I asked Siyu about the biggest project he was asked to handle.

"The Data Privacy Program because it was organized by just me and Gail. I learned a lot from working on that program because I feel more comfortable making cold phone calls. I feel that my verbal and written communication skills have been improved.”

When asked about his favorite part of the job, Siyu responded,  “Getting to interact with so many international visitors. I’ve really enjoyed my time with them, it’s part of the reason why I’m here working for GlobalPittsburgh because I want to interact with people with other cultures. I especially enjoyed the time with the delegates from Pakistan since they’re such nice people.”

Lori is another one of our five interns. She works with Colette and Director of Marketing Thomas Buell, Jr. on the Marketing aspect of GlobalPittsburgh as well as the Study Pittsburgh initiative. When asked what her favorite project was at GlobalPittsburgh she responded: “Probably the infographic I made because of how much of an interactive process it was. I worked on the infographic with Colette and we were given a lot of creative freedom which I enjoyed. We were able to bounce ideas off of each other.”

In terms of advice for people interested in interning with GlobalPittsburgh, Lori had this to say: “GlobalPittsburgh is a great organization to intern for if you want to learn more about working for a non-profit. I would definitely recommend applying if you want to learn more about marketing on a budget, working with different cultures or collaborating with international visitors.”

Alexa is our other intern who works on programming with Gail. Asked about her typical day at GlobalPittsburgh, Alexa replied: “We don’t really have typical days. Our days usually vary depending on the program I’m working on. For example, with the Open World program I would start the day by first checking the emails. I would call the speakers for the presentations for the delegates in order to see if they could meet with our group and schedule the meetings.

"I enjoyed the meetings because I got to review the bios of the participants from Kazakhstan. I also got to sit in on one of their meetings in the GlobalPittsburgh conference room for Mike Lickert from Giant Eagle and that was exciting because I helped to confirm that meeting. It was interesting to see what I had planned, come to life.”

The interns at GlobalPittsburgh work in a variety of different facets and parts of GlobalPittsburgh but they all collaborate in order to promote and assist GlobalPittsburgh in growing and spreading the message of international diversity in Pittsburgh.

- By Lori Wang, GlobalPittsburgh Summer 2014 Intern