Isha Elboctorcy

What organization did you work with?

 PDX Alliance for Self-Care in Portland Oregon, USA

What did you do at your internship?

I created videos on gardening and cooking to reach the youth of Portland, specifically targeting the minorities that are represented in large numbers in the Portland Public School system.. My fellow intern and I also created a list of things that could be recorded or used in a workshop for future interns of PDX ASC. Duty consisted of checking in with Tamia, who oversaw and mentored us during the program and being in communication with my fellow intern. My fellow intern and I would create ideas and work on our projects simultaneously so they would coordinate with each other.

How did Lewis & Clark’s Career Center support you in finding, securing, and/or funding your internship?

I honestly did not even know what an internship was until I popped into the office one day and asked about it since my friends were talking about internships for the summer. I am a first-generation college student, so everything is pretty confusing a new to me in terms of things upperclassmen should be doing to prepare for jobs after college, like summer internships. The L&C career center has helped me navigate what internships mean, I now understand the steps to applying for an internship and being in good standing with your boss/mentor/internship leader. I do appreciate that it was a funded internship as well because I would have not been able to do the internship and would have just gotten a service job for the summer.

What is your biggest takeaway from your internship?

That there are so many people in Portland who care about the community, and who care about giving love to our marginalized communities. I appreciate PDX ASC and Tamia for showing a lot of empathy and wanting to make a genuine change. Sometimes I feel pessimistic when it comes to change for the better for marginalized communities, I am from Texas so I have dealt with and seen a lot of intense racism. But now I have hope, and for that I am thankful.

I also learned how nonprofits worked. I don’t think I’ve ever interacted with a nonprofit before, so this was a whole new thing for me as well. I hope in the future I can work with more nonprofits, they’re like quirky businesses.

How is this internship connected to your career goals and/or future aspirations?

My biggest goal at school is to help foster community, especially between QPOC and WOC. This is my near future aspiration. For my future aspirations, I would like to work with getting more WOC, specifically those who do not fit in eurocentric beauty standards, more recognition and representation through art. I also really want to open a restaurant one day, so learning new recipes for this internship program was really fun.

Last thoughts: 

Thank you for giving students the opportunity to work with cool organizations like this. I feel like L&C can feel like a bubble. It definitely is isolating to be living on Palatine Hill, and it is hard to get involved with the community since a lot of students are from out of state, but it’s important to be getting involved with the local community you are living in! I felt more connected to Portland and I hope I can keep working on that.