Internship Stories

Holly Morgan Global Village Project
I interned at Global Village Project (GVP) in Decatur, Georgia. GVP is a special purpose middle school for refugee girls in the Clarkston/Decatur area, where the mission is to catch the girls up in their education so they are prepared to attend public high school. This region outside of Atlanta has a large refugee population that is only growing, and GVP is able to meet a very specific need within the community. Girls attending the school have missed an average of three years of school due to displacement or other disruptions, so when they come to America they are unable to learn at the same level of other students their age. At GVP, they are placed within three different Forms so teachers are able to meet the girl at their knowledge level and grow from there. GVP currently has around 30 students at the school, and expects to only grow in number in the coming years.

At GVP, I was the Nonprofit Administration Intern and mainly assisted the CEO & Head of School, Elizabeth Elango. I was exposed to many different areas of the nonprofit and school, including administrative meetings and guided reading classes with the students. Through different tasks assigned from my supervisor, I was able to work with everyone in the office and many teachers on at least one project and learn from each of them. At Auburn, I would write papers and center projects on girls education in other countries every chance I got. Getting the chance to see the behind the scenes of how a nonprofit operates while also working with refugee girls was my dream internship. Being in the classroom with them was an eye opening experience, seeing firsthand the knowledge they have and the unique ways in which the teachers had to adapt to help them learn in the best way. Working closely with my supervisor, Elizabeth, was also an impactful experience. She has a background in education access across Africa, and she allowed me to see her process in executive decision making and other administrative tasks. Overall, my time at Global Village Project was informative, challenging, and enriching. It perfectly merged my interests of nonprofits and girls education, and positively impacted me in an innumerable amount of ways.