What’s the Purpose of an Intern?

The first lesson I learned at Purpose was how to tear a sheet of paper into the shape of a porpoise behind my back while a room full of my new coworkers attempted the same task. Call it an icebreaker or team-building game, but the message I took away was that Purpose isn’t like any other workplace. That, and that torn-up paper doesn’t look anything like a porpoise.

The second lesson I learned is that Purpose’s uniqueness extends beyond its orientation activities. The people who work here really care—about their jobs, the issues and each other. Alex, Purpose’s UX designer, told me over coffee that he stays awake at night thinking about his work because he knows that it’s making an impact on the world. Purpose team members don’t just play with porpoises all day, although there’s a fair amount of that, too.

All of this got me thinking: what is the purpose of an intern? What can an under-qualified, over-enthusiastic college kid possibly contribute to a place that’s changing the world? We ask too many questions, turn up late to meetings and eat all of the snacks in the kitchen. We spend hours learning the ropes, and many more just getting tangled in them. We get so caught up in making a good impression that we spill hot tea all over ourselves instead of saying “good morning” (or at least, I do). And at the end of the summer, we disappear. What’s the purpose in that?

Maybe that’s not a fair question. When I look at my fellow interns, I start to see what we can contribute.

Nina, Molly and Rashid are grad students at Columbia. Nina designed a citizenship education program in Mumbai, and Molly has worked on exposing forced and child labor around the globe. Rashid cofounded a media startup and is working on Foodstand at Purpose. He also introduced a bunch of the interns to a Persian chef who sells his “famous soup” out of the corner of a pizza place.

Allie worked as a teacher and soccer coach in rural North Carolina before becoming a fellow at Cornell’s Institute for Public Administration. And while Charlotte studies at UVA, she’s travelled to Kenya and India to work with Free the Children. CJ translates Russian pulp fiction when not campaigning with Amnesty USA at Tufts, and Lindsay is earning a certificate in Spanish on top of majoring in Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School. Maddie, a Middlebury grad, is premiering the film she animated for her senior project at film festivals this summer. Yet despite their accomplishments, all of the Purpose interns are friendly and down to earth.

So it turns out interns can do more than make photocopies and brew coffee. At Purpose, we help make movements that change the world. But we still make mistakes, too. Maybe that’s the purpose of an intern—to misunderstand, mix up, misstep and learn from our mistakes. Maybe it’s not only about what we can do for Purpose, but what the Purpose can do for us.

That answer is good enough for me, at least. Hopefully it works for you, too. Because if we’re this awesome now, just imagine what we’ll be like next summer.

By: Annie Kronenberg, Purpose Intern