By Shaylee Skidmore

I was lucky to actually be interested and happy about my internship. I loved going in every Thursday because the ladies I worked with made my afternoons worthwhile. I never really felt like I was doing work because I always found myself enjoying the projects I was assigned to do, but it’s so much greater than the people I worked with; it was the coalition itself. They offer education, resources, and compassion to victims of sexual assault, domestic violence and even substance abuse to not only Native women but their children too. They’re not directly aiding the victims physical needs but by providing support, they are helping just as much as people who do direct help.

At my school, Native American Community Academy (NACA), the students learn certain core values and one of them is community/service and that’s exactly what these ladies do on a daily basis and I was fortune enough to partake in giving back to my community.

The main thing I enjoyed about my internship was being invited and encouraged to join in on ongoing projects. I even tackled my own project which was creating an event that allowed the Coalition to collaborate with NACA students.

On my first day I had the impression that I was only going to do office work such as organizing and cleaning but it’s so much more than that. They asked for my opinion and even allowed me to write my own blog. I felt so welcomed and privileged.

Being there, I felt like I was a part of the team because they accepted me for who I was and saw potential in me that I didn’t even acknowledge myself.

I regularly worked with two ladies: Angel Thomas and Keioshiah Peter. That didn’t stop the other ladies from greeting me, sharing a joke or even wishing me a farewell though. I considered myself working with all of them because no matter how small of an impact I left, it came back to each and every one of them and made their day a little easier. We all worked in an integrated system meaning we each had a role to fulfill and we did so by splitting up the workload into sections.

Their system works gracefully because they know each other on a personal level. It’s like I joined their little family and I’m honored to have worked as their intern. They all have beautiful personalities and I could tell right from the start that they loved giving back to their communities. I aspire to them and they offer me motivation and inspiration even as my time there was up, I still hold what I learned there close and dear. I know that this experience will help me to pave a path to a successful future.