Anna Hunter

Agency: Children's Action Alliance

Term: Fall - 2004

I am doing my internship with the Children’s Action Alliance, and I am currently learning and training to do outreach in the field. I will soon be going to lower socio-economic schools in Tucson to get the word out about Kids Care, a statewide health insurance program for families above the poverty level but may still struggle with paying for health insurance. The Children’s Action Alliance as a whole serves the state of Arizona as a non-profit, nonpartisan research, policy and advocacy organization. The Children’s Action Alliance tries to better the state of Arizona for children and families. The organization does this through education of both the public and legislatures and political figures. It also has programs that are run in order to help people gain access to new opportunities that are available to them. I work in the Southern Arizona chapter of the Children’s Action Alliance, which services southern Arizona’s child advocacy needs.

I decided to do an internship with the Institute for Children, Youth and Families because I had previously worked in the field of social work but wanted to see a different aspect of helping people. I also wanted to work with people who had gone to law school, and see how they are using their law degrees to help children and families. My goal for after graduation is to go to law school. I would like to go to a law school that specializes in child and family law or child advocacy. I am also applying to Masters of Social Work programs in order to concurrently get my law degree and a degree in social work. My ultimate goal is to work in the field of social justice and be an advocate for children. I want to be able to make a difference in the way children live and are treated. I think the best way to do that is by going to law school and standing up legally for children’s rights.

Since starting my internship I have learned quite a bit about myself mostly. My internship is designed differently than others in that I am not necessarily going into the office everyday most of my work is done from home or out in the field. I have struggled with my own troubles of procrastination and time management. When I started my internship with Penelope Jacks, the director of the southern Arizona Children’s Action Alliance, she told me that everything in this business moves slowly and to have patience. Well I do not think I believed her as much as I should have, because some of the things I have been working on have been an uphill battle with a very slow response time. This is frustrating to someone who thrives on being busy and put to the task at hand.

My advice to someone thinking of doing an internship would be to go out on the limb and do it. There is no better way to learn whether or not some career or direction is better for you then by going out into the real world and doing it. By doing the internship you are not bound to what you are doing like a job, you are there to learn. You could learn that this direction is exactly where you want to go after graduation, or you may learn it is exactly not where you want to go, but that knowledge will not be known until you try.

University of Arizona | College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
School of Family and Consumer Sciences | Family Studies and Human Development

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