Author: rmacsaig

I have completed my twelve weeks at the Chicago Innocence Center and it has been a truly enlightening summer. Coming into my internship, I had three goals: to apply sociological theories I learned to real-world situations, to gain experience in both legal and social work strategies to determine a graduate course of study, and to develop a stronger personal confidence in and outside of professional settings.

In weekly seminar meetings, I was able to bring my sociological lens to our brainstorm sessions. When looking over case materials, I was able to analyze information using my sociology background. I learned a lot about applying the study of social institutions and how they intersect in the real world. For my second goal, I amended it to allow me to investigate legal and journalism careers to see if I want to pursue these paths in graduate school. While I did love learning about investigative journalism and I think my experience at CIC made me a better writer, I am not interested in pursuing an advanced degree in journalism at this time. I am still open to the idea of attending law school or pursuing a master’s degree in social work in the future. In terms of my larger career goals, at CIC I noticed like being in an organizational role. I work best when I am a leader on a team and able to organize a project and create structure for others. I can see this translating into a role in non-profit management in the future.

My third goal was to gain more personal confidence. Working with CIC made me a more confident person. My supervisor, Pam Cytrynbaum, was a role model to me. She was strong, fierce, and did not apologize for herself. As someone who has struggled with insecurities in the past, it was so empowering to see a strong woman successfully running an entire organization. Pam taught me to stop apologizing for myself and always stand up for my opinions, even if it meant contradicting the boss. I feel much more confident entering the new school year and I know I will continue to thrive professionally as a strong woman with valuable ideas.

If I had one piece of advice to a future intern at CIC, I would let them know to have patience. Every case we work on takes time. Sometimes, when you think you reach a breakthrough, it might fall through or not pan out. It’s really hard to keep yourself motivated, especially when you realize the cases you’re working on have real people’s lives at stake. However, it is crucial to keep going, because your work could mean the difference in whether an exoneree is freed. If I was advising someone working in the field of innocence relief I would urge them to respect each exoneree. I would tell them to try not to treat anyone differently just because they were in prison. Even though exonerees live through a lifetime of pain while incarcerated, they are still people and want to be treated as such. They deserve all your respect and love as a human being.

This summer, I am most proud of my growth in confidence. I went from being very insecure in the workplace to freely sharing my ideas. In building a new website with some fellow interns, we were able to make new suggestions to our supervisors that were our own ideas. Many of these ideas made it on to the final site. Because I grew enough confidence to present an idea to my superiors, I have now made permanent, positive change for CIC as my ideas come to fruition on our new website. I will value the incredible skills I learned at CIC.

 

 

Ruby Macsai-Goren ’18

Social Justice WOW Fellow

I am currently at the midway point in my internship at The Chicago Innocence Center and I could not be more thrilled to be part of such an incredible organization. I have loved working with CIC over the past seven weeks. I am mostly working with twelve other interns, our Director, Pamela, our President, David, our Program Associate, Diana, and our Outreach Coordinator, Stanley, who was wrongfully convicted and served 31 years in prison. I have learned so much working with this group. Our interns come from ten different colleges and represent a range of majors, extra-curricular activities, hometowns, backgrounds, and interests. As interns, we work together on many tasks. Because of our diverse backgrounds, we are able to build off each other’s previous knowledge. One intern who is pre-law could help explain a court proceeding while an intern majoring in journalism could write an op-ed about that proceeding that another intern interested in human rights could turn into a policy brief.

It is really powerful to work with so many engaged individuals who are all at the same points in their life as I am. I feel that I have not just fostered positive workplace relationships but that I have also made lifelong friends. I appreciate the collaborative, open atmosphere at CIC because the subject matter we deal with is very serious. Sometimes, concepts are hard to process because they are so evident of systematic issues such as racism, poverty, or misconduct in the criminal justice system. Luckily, our group can dialogue about these issues, discussing why they are so shocking (or not very shocking, in many unfortunate cases) and what we can do to change them. Overall, I feel excited to be a part of this work.

Working at CIC differs from academic life in two main ways. First, I feel that I am treated as an equal in meetings rather than a student in the classroom. Many of my professors at Brandeis create positive learning environments where I feel comfortable, however I still feel they are my teachers and it is their job to lecture and mine to listen and engage. In contrast, Pam and David cultivate an environment of collaborative learning.  There are no lectures; every meeting is a conversation. While Pam and David are our mentors, they value our contributions and encourage us to push ourselves out of our comfort zones. Pam and David treat me as their colleague and welcome all ideas, no matter if they are useful or not. I feel respected and I know my opinion is always encouraged.

Second, my internship is much more experiential than my academic experience. Every day, I do something new. My week can be five days in five different locations. One day I am in the office, the next day I am at the book launch of Exoneree Diaries, an incredible book by Alison Flowers, the next day I attend a legal luncheon, the next day I am out in the field, and the next I am attending an evidentiary hearing for one of our investigative cases. Through these unique opportunities in my internship, I am gaining tangible skills to bring back to school or to future job opportunities. My writing has absolutely improved through our investigative journalism workshops, which challenge me to ask succinct questions and not to bury the lead. I have learned how to build a website, which is useful for any job in the future that may need technical support. Finally, I think I have become a more empathetic listener. I am able to silence my thoughts in order to yield the floor to someone else. As they speak, I have learned to truly listen. These skills will translate to my academic life and career for years to come, all thanks to CIC.

 

Ruby Macsai-Goren, ’18

Social Justice WOW Fellow