Haley Weiss

JFGI Marketing Summer Intern, 2014

One of the posters I created for the Israel Solidarity Gathering this summer. 

When my family friend told me about the internship program through the Federation, I decided to apply. I grew up very involved in the Jewish Community, interning within it seemed to only be the next logical step.  After being accepted into the program as a marketing intern, I expected to be given typical intern tasks such as making copies and fetching coffee. However, the tasks I was given and the experience I had was far from typical.

As the marketing intern, I was responsible for adding content to the website as well as doing odd jobs such as creating flyers, working with various social media platforms to promote JFGI, editing photos and sending out e-blasts to Federation constituents. I enjoyed the creativity involved and (almost) all of my jobs were fun.

Since so much was going on in Israel this summer, I had a particularly unique experience. Office chatter drifted toward the situation in the Middle East more often than not. I learned so much more about Israel, Judaism and the conflict than if I had been anywhere else. I actually got to create the posters for an Israel Solidarity Gathering that the Federation had to show support, which was perhaps my favorite task of the summer. 

Another unique part about my experience was the opportunity to meet with each of the executives of the Federation’s constituent agencies. Even as involved as I was in the Jewish community as a child and a teenager, I didn’t know half of the things I learned in those meetings. It was such a great vantage point to gain a better understanding of the inner workings of the Indianapolis Jewish Community.

While all of the meetings and tasks were stimulating and exciting, my favorite part about the whole experience was definitely all of the wonderful people I had the chance to work with. There are likely very few other workplaces with as many people who are as passionate about their jobs as there are here.  As an intern, I felt incredibly welcomed. I truly felt like I was a regular staff member.

Overall, I learned so much more than just about web design and the Jewish community. This internship really reiterated how important Judaism is to me. I don’t ever see a future in which I am not involved in the Jewish community in some way and this internship solidified that thought for me.

I would one hundred percent recommend this internship to anyone interested.