By Stephon Henderson
GSHFH Intern
Opportunity is a gift for those who seize it.
Springdale Education Center (SEC) recently received an opportunity to give a student an internship at Greater Springfield Habitat for Humanity’s (GSHFH) administrative office in West Springfield. Over the course of four months, the Habitat Marketing and Communications manager taught marketing and photography. The student used his
new skills to create social media and a newsletter story for the organization.
“I think the internship gives students an opportunity to learn skills outside of their wheelhouse and it shows Habitat is not only about construction,” said Brandy O’Brien, GSHFH Marketing and Communications manager.
Brandy and Young Adult Teacher Trina Winans from SEC got together and came up with
an idea to allow a high schooler to participate in an internship at Habitat. The student visits the administrative office twice a week for four months. Brandy and Trina brought the idea to Jill Brewer, SEC educational administrator and director, and she approved it.
“I pushed this internship forward because I saw great potential for Stephon’s growth in the area of marketing,” Trina said.
Habitat for Humanity is a nonprofit that helps those who can’t get a house through traditional means purchase an affordable home. Habitat also offers home repairs for lower income individuals and veterans at a discounted rate.
At the start of the internship, there were lessons about how companies and Habitat express
themselves through colors, logos, and designs. The internship also showed how Habitat finds their target audiences, such as people who want to have a house and how staff makes
content for those target audiences.
Brandy showed how to take proper photographs and how to edit those pictures. The internship also taught other topics, like interviewing and posting to social media. One of the major lessons of the internship was taking pictures at the Habitat construction site in Holyoke. Afterward, the next step was to edit those photos using Photoshop and create a post through a design website called Canva. The posts were put up on social media websites, such as Instagram and Facebook. At the construction site, there were lessons on how to perform interviews and ask the right questions.
“I love mentoring and teaching and, if I can, impart some useful skills that not only benefit the students but also help me in the marketing department,” Brandy said.
While on the work site in Holyoke, there was also an opportunity to learn about construction.
The crew working on a house offered some insightful lessons like basic building skills, how to cut wood, and taking measurements. They showed how the house was framed and gave an explanation to the building process.
Some of the topics Habitat taught had a degree of difficulty, like coming up with questions, doing the interviews, and trying to find the right wording for a social media post.
When asked if the internship is beneficial for other high school students, Jill said, "Absolutely! I think it provides students with real-life experience and that it can lead
to a future job in the community.”