It’s hard to believe that my time at Avodah is coming to an end. It feels like just yesterday my eyes were glued to Google Maps on my phone, trying to find Avodah’s building. Now, over two months later, I can confidently walk through downtown Manhattan while glancing at all the different buildings, food trucks, and sculptures it has to offer. My confidence and comfort has also increased in the workspace, allowing me to take on projects with more ease and independence.
In all aspects of my internship, I’ve realized self-sufficiency and ease do not come effortlessly. There are learning experiences, tutorials, and other hurdles to overcome to get to a certain level of confidence. When one of my supervisors, Amanda Lindner–Avodah’s Director of Communications–approached me about creating a social media status about Avodah’s Fellows, I was initially nervous. When I was tasked with editing Corps Member videos using WeVideo, I felt slightly discouraged with the website. However, I realized apprehensive feelings, asking questions, and encountering stumbles along the way are important. In fact, these aspects of the internship were the most valuable because it is where I grew and learned the most.
There’s always more to learn. Through being exposed to social justice work, I’ve realized one cannot expect immediate results. Social justice is not a field for results-driven individuals. It takes hard work, patience, and much energy to see change. That is why social justice and the people who work towards it are so special. There’s no easy fix to the criminal justice system, access to education, or immigration issues, yet people will spend years dedicating their lives to these issues.
Most of the work that I completed contributed to larger projects. For example, I interviewed a current corps member about her recent bat mitzvah. This included coming up with questions, transcribing her answers, and then cutting down her responses to be more concise. My work would later be used to create a social media post about the bat mitzvah. On a larger scale, Avodah’s Instagram presence has grown 29% from last year. Although my contribution may be small, I hope the daily tasks I complete have been assisting in Avodah’s social media popularity.
No matter the circumstances, change is always going to take some getting used to. There were some aspects that were hard for me, but these experiences helped me in thinking about possible career paths. As much as I tried to pay attention to the computer screen for several hours at a time, let’s just say that there are some things in life that you can’t be amazing at. I know now that working at a computer for most of the day is not something I can see myself doing. Through this experience, I’ve learned it’s okay to chat with an intern friend, take a walk, or blow some bubbles you find in the supply closet. There were many new obstacles this summer, but I’m proud of how I handled them and the work I’ve accomplished.
Jolie Suchin ’22