My internship with the Save Ancient Studies Alliance was my first work experience in an academic setting. As a History major, I personally like to study cultures from antiquity and SASA’s main goal is to increase the accessibility of those studies. It felt like a perfect match when I first heard about them. I wasn’t able to do research like I hope to do in the future, but the experience I gained has been invaluable. I worked with the recruitment team and worked on getting more interns to help grow the organization. I didn’t feel like I needed any educational requirements for this position, but the courses I’ve taken on professionalism (including COLA 402) definitely helped. After meeting with so many people from around the world and learning more social skills through interviews, I feel like I might look into careers in Human Resources or other paths that involve social interaction. Meeting new people is always fun, but sharing an intense passion for something with someone builds a strong relationship. Also, seeing what people want to get out of something and helping them reach those goals was very satisfying. However, not being able to help people in certain situations didn’t feel good and I don’t know if I would be interested in pursuing a career like this if those situations were more serious than just offering an internship. As for full-time positions, SASA doesn’t offer many paid opportunities. Those positions are usually held by people with PhDs. I haven’t looked into other organizations but I would expect them to require a higher degree than a bachelor’s along with more experience than I have. One piece of advice that I have for incoming interns is to always stress good communication. If you want something specific then ask for it, update people on everything, and make sure their expectations of you are explicit.
