Rida Jawed
Rida was an intern in PrepareRI's summer internship program in both 2019 & 2020. Now attending Northeastern University, Rida reflects on her experiences with PrepareRI and how they helped support her education & career path.
Tell me about your experience with the PrepareRI internship program.
I did my first internship through PrepareRI at Dr. Day Care as a Social Media and Marketing Intern. It was an incredible experience and a great opportunity to learn more about the corporate world. I developed several technical skills as well as soft skills that helped me develop professionally and utilize those skills in other programs as well. I was then selected as a 2nd-year intern in the 2020 COVID-19 Challenge and I applied to be the CEO of my corporation. The second internship was absolutely extraordinary. I was working with a team of very talented people that worked incredibly hard resulting in Corporation 1 being the 2nd place and popular vote winner.
How has the PrepareRI program impacted your life?
PrepareRI has really helped me develop skills that I don’t get to develop at school. Working with a team and managing a corporation as the CEO was an incredible learning experience in terms of leadership and team-work. I have also built amazing relationships with my co-workers, mentors, and supervisors.
Do you have a favorite moment from the program?
My corporation decided to host a 1-day virtual summit to promote careers in the offshore wind industry. Minutes before we out summit started, our team came on a Zoom call reflecting on how much we had achieved in just 6 weeks. At the beginning of the 6 weeks, we really didn’t think we would be able to bring this idea to completion but at that moment we were so proud of ourselves that we were able to host a summit with 3 panelists and 40+ participants including students and teachers from all across RI.
What do you think are the biggest benefits of PrepareRI compared to other internships or career learning programs in schools?
PrepareRI, compared to other career learning programs, provides immense opportunity for students to develop skills that will benefit them and others in the long run. Often, career learning programs are a few weeks long and the learning pretty much ends at the end of those weeks. PrepareRI helps you develop a professional, learning mindset that will be forever helpful in the future. To summarize, PrepareRI, instead of giving a man a fish and feeding him for a day, teaches a man to fish and feeds him for a lifetime.
Tell us about the network, connections, and/or friendships you've developed as part of this program.
Starting off the internship, I didn’t think I would build the friendships and connections that I did. I have built genuine relationships with my co-workers and mentors and we still talk to each other and help each other in different aspects of personal and professional life. The network is something I would have never been able to develop if I hadn’t been part of the PrepareRI Internship program.
