Meet Stephanie and Yomira, two of our high school interns this past summer at the SF Bicycle Coalition. Every Monday-Wednesday for four weeks in July and August, Yomira and Stephanie came to our office to support our work in a variety of ways, from helping fulfill memberships to logging petition signatures, to making phone calls to lapsed members and more. They also had the opportunity to conduct informational interviews with a variety of staff to learn more about how an advocacy nonprofit functions. Yomira and Stephanie are both juniors in high school this fall, and come to us through the Girls Inc. of Alameda County’s Eureka! Teen Achievement Program. As their internship drew to a close, we caught up with them as they reflected on their time here.
Yomira (left) and Stephanie are a key part of the bicycle advocacy team
What project are you most proud of?
Stephanie: Donor research. There was so much and it took a long time, but then after I was done I felt proud.
Yomira: Sorting and coordinating the annual reports. I had a huge stack! But I got the hang of it.
What surprised you most about coming here?
Y: The atmosphere. Everybody’s so friendly. I was expecting it to be really really uptight, because I heard it was an office and I’d never worked in an office before, so I was kind of scared it was going to be a bunch of grumpy old men in suits.
S: Yeah, me too. I was like, I don’t have enough fancy clothes!
Is there a skill you’ve learned here that you think you’ll use again?
Y: I think using Salesforce is a good skill. Being able to go through contacts like that, being able to use a database.
S: I think a skill that I’ve learned is not being lazy. I’ve started working faster now, and I think in a lot of jobs, if you work fast, your boss will like it.
What advice would you give to someone thinking about interning here?
Y: You should take working here under consideration
S: If you want to work here, just be yourself.
Anything else you’d like to share?
S: My favorite part of my internship is getting to use the computer a lot. I’ve gotten more confident in using the computer. When I started I said, “Will you get mad if I make the computer explode?” but now I use it every day.
Y: Part of what I like here is that you guys always have something to do. I keep thinking, who’s going to do our work when we’re gone?
Are you interested in interning with the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition? In addition to our daytime work with high school interns, we have a variety of positions available for college and post-college students, ranging from Communications to Community Outreach to Development to Event Promotion to Volunteer Coordination and more! Check out the full list and application instructions here. And if you aren’t able to make the time commitment of an internship, you can always come volunteer!
