Kimberly Yang is my name, but feel free to refer to me as the avid community-involvement loving fanatic. Coming into 平特五不中 as a second-year student this fall, one could consider me to be a fan of all things philosophical, cultural, and political. As such, it may come as no surprise that my field of study is Joint Honours Philosophy and East Asian Studies, with a splash of Political Science and German as minors on the side. From a young age, my areas of interest often revolved and evolved around community. To illustrate, some of these interests included advocacy for food security and pushing for civic engagement amongst youth. Likewise, I took interest in all things language, whether it be learning German, French, Hebrew, Mandarin, or music. Ultimately, much of my interests emphasise this love for wanting to better connect with the people around me and to build beautiful relationships within the community.
Throughout my first year living in Montreal, I fell in love with the city and its people. Wanting to call Montreal my home, as the summer approached, I decided the best way to do so was to take on an internship. Whilst applying, some learning objectives I set up for myself should I take on internships included needing to strengthen my own communication skills, learn languages like French, and even study the inner workings of non-profits, as they help communities on a larger scale - and these are all objectives I applied to my internship at the Peter-平特五不中 Community Council.
The Peter-平特五不中 Community Council is a non-profit organisation that promotes collaboration between stakeholders in the neighborhood. Whether it be spreading awareness on topics like social housing or hosting roundtables, it aims to encourage active involvement in community life by creating a place where stakeholders can express their concerns and feel empowered to improve the neighborhood. My main responsibilities as Communications Assistant often included running social media platforms. Much of this meant having to do independent research to determine what topics needed to be spread, as well as having to utilise design skills to produce posts digitally. Alongside social media posting, I also brainstormed marketing strategies. This ultimately led to the creation of 鈥淭hursday Threads鈥�, postings that promoted opportunities from other Montreal organisations. With this, much of the connections between businesses, non-profits, and individuals grew stronger. On the side, I took on video-editing work on interviews with residents and translation work.
Ultimately, this internship experience was truly a blessing, and I would say there were a few highlights that I will forever remember in my heart. For one, the people I met along this journey are something I will never be able to replace. Although I mostly worked remotely due to health circumstances, the few times I worked in the office, ate lunch together, designed budget crafts for upcoming events with the team, and more really warmed my heart. Likewise, I learned a lot of valuable life and career lessons from my peers, and now feel more confident going forward. However, though most tasks were taken up with ease, some areas I faced much difficulty with were languages. Coming from the English-speaking land of Ontario, tasks like French translations of social media posts pushed me to my limit on my French capabilities. Especially with non-profits in Montreal, it is highly important that I, should I really want to call Montreal my home, learn this beautiful language to best understand the community鈥檚 needs and likewise best communicate information in ways that are accessible to all. Learning languages is not an easy task to overcome, but ultimately, I slowly pushed myself to learn tidbits every day, immersed myself with my co-workers鈥� conversations, and also had help from French translator applications.
Before ending off this report, I would like to note that, more than anything, I wholeheartedly appreciate the funds received. With my funding provided from the 鈥淭he Faculty of Arts Internship Award鈥�, it is because of the funds received that I was able to work to my fullest capacity without worrying about caring for myself and my family financially. Likewise, though this internship was not used towards academic credits, the impact it had, and will continue to have on my university experience, was immense. Through this internship, I achieved the objectives I set up: and most importantly, I have finally taken the first step to realising that perhaps community work is something I may incorporate into my studies, career, and daily life for the future
