I’m a senior at Michigan State University with a major in International Relations and a minor in Muslim Studies. This summer I did a remote internship with a women’s rights group in Dublin, Ireland. I got paired with them through Connect-123 and I don’t think Connect-123 could have picked a better organization for my internship. The NGO’s work is near and dear to my heart and they work in a field that I want to pursue a career in. Early on in the internship, it became clear to me that it was the place I was supposed to be for my internship. The women there are all incredible people and we worked fantastically together, not to mention I was doing work that meant a great deal to me. When it came to pairing me with them, Connect-123 did such a phenomenal job. They took my interests and career goals and found me the perfect internship.

As for working remotely this summer, it certainly wasn’t what I had planned. I had a study abroad lined up for this summer which got canceled due to the pandemic. I was hesitant at first to work remotely, but in the end, I’m glad I decided to participate in the internship program. In the beginning, it was a little difficult to adjust to remote work, simply because I’d never done anything like it before, but in the end, I learned so many valuable and marketable skills. I learned things like balancing my work and home life, how to better manage my time, and how to work independently on large projects. With so much uncertainty about the future due to the pandemic, having remote work experience under my belt helps ease some of my worries about finding a job in a pandemic. It’s something I would recommend to anyone considering doing a remote internship.