Internship Experience - Anglo-Chinese School Independent (ACSI)

Advaita receiving her certificate of completion at the end of her internship at MTC.

From January 12th to 30th, we had the privilege in welcoming Advaita from Anglo-Chinese School Independent for a three-week internship programme under our Young Changemaker Programme. Through digital content creation, community research and administrative support, Advaita gained a well-rounded understanding of how different roles come together within a social enterprise that gives back to the community.

Advaita began her internship with an empathy-mapping activity, where she interviewed a fellow intern and shared what she had learnt with her peers. This encouraged her to listen attentively, understand other person's perspective and communicate her findings clearly. She later worked with her teammates to explore the challenges faced by a certain marginalized community in Singapore. Together, they researched the issue and developed a presentation, an interactive quiz and a website mock-up proposing a possible solution.

During her internship journey with us, Advaita was involved in producing an educational recycling video for primary school students using an application called AR Makr -- a software that enables users to creative interactive augmented reality experiences.

From illustrating visual elements and creating digital assets to filming and editing, Advaita explored how augmented reality could make an educational message more engaging for younger audiences. The project also strengthened her ability to translate an idea into a clear and age-appropriate digital content. Advaita later continued with a task on researching social media trends. She took part in filming and editing short-form content, gaining a better understanding of how businesses or organizations uses digital platforms to communicate their publicity works and connect with wider audiences. At the same time, Advaita discovered that impactful work also relies on strong organization and coordination behind the scenes. She contributed in several administrative and operational tasks during her time at Make The Change. She helped updated numerous Google Forms and Padlet for our partnered schools, organized administrative information on our databases on Notion and Google Sheets, and even supported our manpower schedule coordination.

One particularly challenging assignment that was given to Advaita and her fellow intern peers -- Anirudh and Shaurya from Temasek Junior College, involved using JavaScript/Google Apps Script to automate birthday greetings for our community of persons with disabilities. With no to little coding experiences, Advaita and her peers continued experimenting and making adjustments until they found a successful solution. The experience strengthened their patience, resilience and critical-thinking skills in solving unfamiliar challenges.

Advaita's Reflection

"I gained valuable exposure to both creative and administrative aspects of organizational work. Overall, the internship strengthened my communication skills, adaptability, and appreciation for purpose-driven work."

Advaita and her fellow intern peers in a group photo.

Advaita's journey demonstrated that creating change requires both creative ideas and consistent work behind the scenes. We truly appreciated her enthusiasm, perseverance and positive energy she brought to Make The Change, and we look forward to seeing how she continues applying what she has learnt to make a difference in her future endeavours!