My experience at Coprodeli USA has been nothing like I would have expected it to be. Honestly I didn’t know much about what to expect when I applied for this internship. I figured it would be a lot like my past experiences with non profit work – I would be the only one in the office having any idea of what the actual work in my job description entailed.
I was mistaken, however. And gratefully so.
From the day I stepped into the office I was put to work. The work involved some papers, but I definitely wasn’t just pushing them. I was immediately given the Events Manual and flash drive to get myself better acquainted with the position and transfer all past work to my laptop. I was definitely a little overwhelmed at first but was glad to know I would be doing actual work while being able to apply many of the things I had been learning in class.
The more time I spent at Coprodeli the more I realized how happy I was to have this experience. Not only was I learning new things everyday, but I was working for an awesome organization. I got to see how much Coprodeli actually does for the communities they serve in Peru. The things the organization claimed to stand for were an everyday part of life in the office. Everything I, and the people around me, were doing had measurable results and the potential benefits to the organization could be seen. I was even more amazed to see the amount of work being accomplished with the very limited resources we were provided with.
My time at Coprodeli has definitely been more than 'résumé-building'. When I step into the office I feel as though I’m among friends… not just supervisors and fellow interns. Everything from the organization’s openness to new ideas – yes, even from interns – down to the time when the President of our Board of Directors met us for dinner just to stay in touch and get to know the new interns a little better.
I can only hope that when I start my actual career next Fall the organization will be something similar to Coprodeli. My number one goal in life has always been to make a difference in some way but thought that was only a reality for the very lucky… or very rich. Coprodeli has showed me that my goal is within reach. If I play my cards right I may even be able to start an organization that helps me reach it, always remembering my experience at Coprodeli.
- Rianna Felder, Fall Intern 2010 
