[by Emily Levin]
While some college students take a break from work this summer, a few Jewish undergraduates are taking the opportunity to work as interns while learning more about the Jewish community and themselves. Each summer, Jewish agencies, including Jewish Family and Career Services and the Jewish Community of Louisville, offer paid internships that allow Jewish students to get more out of their summer. The internship program is now in its 12th year and currently run by JFCS’s Ellen Shapira.
This summer there are three interns working within the Jewish community: Judy Goodman and Jackson Blum working with Jewish Family and Career Services, and Emily Levin working with the Jewish Community Center and Jewish Community of Louisville.
Judy Goodman
Judy Goodman is going into her sophomore year at New York University with an undeclared major, but looking towards a double major in economics and Japanese. She is interning this summer with JFCS in its marketing department as a marketing and social networking intern.
So far, she says, she really likes the internship and is working with many nice people at JFCS. She thinks it is really interesting to see how a nonprofit organization like JFCS gets the word out on their events and raises money for programming. She is also getting acquainted with being in an office setting, which is much different than the type of environment she has worked in before.
Goodman worked a great deal this month with Beverly Bromley in the Development and Marketing Department at JFCS as they prepared for the annual Republic Bank Golf Challenge, which occurred on June 25. Now, after the event, she will be helping JFCS more in the area of social networking and blogging.
At New York University, Goodman is the Vice President of KOACH, a student organization for Conservative Judaism and a part of Hillel. She is also very active with Violets for Israel, a political advocacy group for relations between the United States and Israel.
Jackson Blum
Jackson Blum, a Vermont native, is a sophomore leaning towards a major in cognitive science at Yale University. He is in Louisville for the first time this summer working with JFCS as a part of the Yale Bulldog Program, which he sees as a great opportunity to introduce himself to the business world. The Yale Bulldog program offers Yale students like Blum the opportunity to intern for the entire summer in various cities across America in the arts, government or nonprofit sectors.
Blum, who is the microenterprise development intern at JFCS, says that so far the position has been pretty revealing and has helped him to learn a lot about the ins and outs of a business. Working with the Navigate Enterprise Center, he has seen small business clients that the center works with and has been to neighborhoods where they work. As the program continues, Blum will be interviewing clients on their success stories and doing a great deal of market research.
At Yale, Blum is a member of Alpha Epsilon Pi where he is on the executive board as a pledge educator and has helped to plan many events. He is involved with his Hillel, where he attends many Shabbat services, and went on a Birthright Israel trip in the spring. He is also the social chair of the Yale Running Club and has written cultural pieces for the Yale Herald.
Emily Levin
My name is Emily Levin and I am going into my junior year at Miami University with a major in accountancy and a minor in interactive media studies. I am interning for multiple departments of the JCC/JCL, which include Accountancy, Marketing, Human Resources and Communications.
After only a few weeks, I have helped out with various projects and have begun to network with many staff members. At first, I was anxious to meet people in so many departments, but everyone seems to be welcoming and I am learning a great deal from them about their impact on the Jewish community.
It has been very insightful for me to see everyday business functions from a brand new perspective. I hope to continue exploring these business areas and learning more about my future business aspirations.
At school, I am very involved with Hillel, for which I am an engagement team member, working to create a more active Jewish student community. I am also a member of Alpha Phi Omega, a national service fraternity, through which I have completed many service projects throughout Ohio.