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Shabnam's internship at Become 

During this pandemic, I was privileged enough to obtain an internship at Become in the Services Team. During my interview process, one of the questions I was asked was what I like about Become – I remember saying “what do I not like?!” I love, appreciate and respect all the amazing work this small charity is doing and how it’s changing so many young people’s lives.

I was motivated to apply to Become and Propel because one of my personal goals is to learn more about the charity that has inspired me and continues to do so with its incredible work. Coming from a care-experienced background, I have personally benefited from Become’s services, especially the workshops about rights and entitlements to children in care and young care leavers which helped empower me a lot.

The first part of the internship has consisted of using excel sheets and finding out what colleges and universities have uploaded or updated their information on what services they can provide for care leavers and emailing them to either upload or update their profile on the Propel website. This is very important for care leavers because it will help them to make better decisions on what college or university would better suit and accommodate them.

The second part of the internship consisted of creating Propel university guides on what things to expect when you start attending university and getting a degree. As I am currently finishing my masters, I was able to use my specialist experience and knowledge and create guides on what graduates should expect if they plan on doing their masters and how to fund it. I wish I had access to guides, like the ones I have created, when I was going to university or starting my masters as it would have made my experience at getting a degree and post-graduate degree an easier process.

I guess when you enjoy working on something that you’re passionate about, time flies very quickly and you wish it can last longer. But the good thing is that you can take away those memories and cherish them. I will miss the quick coffee catch-ups and getting to know the Services Team. I will also miss Wednesday morning team meetings where I get to meet a trustee of the charity virtually, get to know one of my colleague’s job role through their fabulous presentation and listening to another colleague’s presentation of an artist or something that inspires them.

Overall, this internship enabled me to improve my time management, communication, self-confidence, knowledge skills, and qualities. In addition, this internship has helped me to have a greater understanding of the activities and workings of a national charity thanks to my tenure at Become and Propel. I want to say thank you to a very special person who I will always remember – Jade my cool, unique and funny manager who made this internship fun, easy and stress free. I also want to express my gratitude to everyone else at Become and Propel for supporting, being so kind and patient and giving me very interesting tasks to do. I have learnt so many new things and have really enjoyed this internship.

Shabnam Karim

Shabnam’s internship at Become

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