What Now?
By: Rodolfo Pena Jr, CAS ’23
Rodolfo preparing for his final meeting with his supervisor and his mentor.
Wingu – Buenos Aires, Argentina
I never truly understood just how fast time passes, until I sat down and reflected on the past two months. Like a summer gust of wind, the months of June and July blew by me and all while leaving me with a marvelous experience. I began this internship afraid of what was to come, afraid of failing, afraid of not being good enough, however, all these fears are long gone now. As an FGLI student at Penn, I was often faced with your typical imposter syndrome and heavily relied on working with peers to feel as if though I am doing enough and on the same level as them. When I realized I would be the only intern at my internship site I became frantic, but now that I completed my time, I developed my confidence. Working alone forced me to rely on myself and trust the work I was doing was good and solid all on my own. Having a partner is great, but not having one allowed me to step out of my comfort zone and taught me to trust myself and the work I did, which increased my confidence. I would have told my pre-internship self to not be afraid of all the things I was. I would have wanted to know that everything would be okay in the end and that all my anxiety and worries were not needed.
As a remote internship, I was also afraid that it wouldn’t be enriching enough and that I would spend 40 hours a week strictly behind a computer screen on zoom meetings. I’m thankful that wasn’t the case, as I had ample time to complete my work on my own time. I am also very grateful to have worked with a multitude of individuals within my internship site. I worked with people in Argentina, Colombia, and Mexico; working alongside them all expanded my internship in Buenos Aires to a more global experience. I was able to learn a lot of different skills and at the same time sharpen others. I was able to work on my research and presentation skills as my internship required me to present material on software that nonprofit organizations could use in order to measure social impact. Knowing that the research I was doing was directly impacting the community in Buenos Aires made the experience and work so much better. I also developed knowledge on a customer relationship management database and how organizations use it to keep track of contacts etc. I was able to help Wingu, my internship site, clean their contact database to ensure that corresponding donors and organizations could be contacted when needed to. I also developed knowledge on creating and assisting virtual events with the platform Hopin.
All around, I had never considered working for a non-profit organization, but being an intern at Wingu has influenced me directly. I know that people all over the world need help, and if I can use my skills to help, even if it’s one particular region, I am already making an impact in the world. Again, I am beyond thankful for this opportunity to intern with Wingu and all the skills and lessons I gained from it.
The Global Research and Internship Program (GRIP) provides outstanding undergraduate and graduate students the opportunity to intern or conduct research abroad for 8 to 12 weeks over the summer. Participants gain career-enhancing experience and global exposure that is essential in a global workforce.