Our first Springboard Social Media
interns just wrapped up their first year on the job! Check out what they
accomplished, what they learned, and where they’re headed next.
What were some of the most memorable
experiences you had as a Springboard Social Media Intern?
“As a Social Media
Intern, one thing we did was go to different community events, including 18
Under 18, or Israel Solidarity Day, and a USY chapter cooking event. We had
assignments, such as taking pictures, making own Instagram posts, videos, and
spreading the word about upcoming events in the community. We got to see
different aspects of the Jewish community from behind-the-scenes and everything
it takes to put on events.
-Emily Fridland, Incoming 10th
grader, Glenbrook North High School
“I made Instagram,
Facebook, Snapchat and Twitter posts, wrote blog posts and interviewed the
honorees of the first ever 18 Under 18 Event. I went to Israel Solidarity Day
and got to ask people why they love Israel and then take pictures of them. I
got to see all different types of answers of why teens love Israel.”
-Evie Katz-Palka, Incoming 10th grader,
Buffalo Grove High School
What are some of the main skills or
lessons you learned?
“Coming to the
realization that posts that lack quality content won’t aid in impressing others. Working behind the
scenes has allowed me to fully understand the complexity of how our message
effects not simply our community, but the world around us. Further, the WHY is
so very important, so by explaining the ‘why’ through our media, we show who we are rather than what we look like
on the outside.”
-Maddie Brim, Incoming 11th grader, Stevenson High
School
“A skill I had to
learn was how to take criticism. Criticism isn’t always negative, but I realized that learning
how to deal with it and to use it to better yourself as a person is a crucial
skill. Submitting my posts and seeing that I needed to change my execution of a
graphic or the format of an interview, helped me to to make my posts better and
more informative.”
-Avery Hessel, Incoming 10th grader, Vernon Hills High School
“During our monthly
meetings, we covered different professional development topics. One meeting we
talked about quantity and quality when it comes to social media posts. We
discussed the difference between making a post that gets a lot of “likes”, but doesn’t have any real
impact, like causing people to show up to an event, vs. making a post that may
not get many “likes”, but gets people to actually act on it, for
example, signing up for a School Break program. My fellow interns and I decided
that quality, and the impact of our posts, was as important, if not more, than
quantity, and something we should be focusing on.”
-Evie
“I learned how much
time and work truly goes into making all these posts and social media type of
stuff. I learned that you have to do your part in a group to make the whole
group succeed otherwise everyone will fail. We learned also many different ways
to edit our posts and how to create them as a whole.”
-Emily
Share one highlight of your internship:
“Overall, my
favorite part was meeting the other interns and being a part of a team. When
one of us had a question or needed some insight, the others were there to help.
At one point, we all worked together on a Chanukah post and it was so much fun
getting to work all together.”
-Evie
“Community is vital to how we become who we are, so without working
with this community I wouldn’t have been as involved as I am. I am so happy to
be with the Chicagoland Jewish community! Whether it's meeting all the
different types of people or being able to broadcast the innovative skills I’ve learned, I could
never express my gratefulness for the place I found within the community.”
-Maddie
“Apart from being a
madricha at the Chabad of Vernon Hills, this was my first real job. This was
the best hands-on learning experience for me as a freshman. I was able to work
on my professionalism, cooperation, time management, patience, and social media
navigation.”
-Avery
What’s next?
“As a result of me
getting involved in this internship, I have applied to the Diller Teen Fellows
program. Diller is a fellowship for high school students interested in
exploring topics in leadership, Jewish identity, social justice, and Israel.
Each of these topics are extremely important to me as a growing Jewish teen and
activist. I was also introduced to Or Tzedek, which is a program that provides opportunities
for teens from across the country to learn about and take action on current
social justice campaigns, which I will be participating in this summer. I am
also hoping to attend more events that I learned about, such as Israel
Solidarity Day, Good Deeds Day, and CHUSY.”
-Avery
“This coming fall I am going to Israel to study for a few months and
cannot wait. Because of this internship I know who I am and what my role in the
Jewish community is.”
-Emily
Final Thoughts?
“I’m so thankful for
this feeling, and I want to thank the teen engagement community at JUF for
giving me the opportunity to not only become better engaged with my community
through social media platforms, but allowing me to grow to become the person I
am today.”
-Maddie
“This has made me a
more independent and hard worker. I have been able to work in all different
styles from blogging to social media. I have learned so much and will be able
to use these skills in the future. I would like to thank Springboard for giving
me this amazing opportunity.”
-Evie