What Will I Make of It?

Monday I met with Nir, Ashoka Israel’s mover and shaker. I’ll be working with him over the next six weeks or so, (note: working with, not for; Ashoka is highly un-hierarchical), helping him launch several key programs. What was amazing about the meeting, and the sense I’ve gotten throughout all my dealings with Nir, is the degree to which I am a modified free agent – a free agent with caveats. This is not to say that I don’t have deadlines to meet, set goals and projects to accomplish. I most certainly do. I have profiles to write, organizations to contact, research to complete. But after that, after I do what Nir absolutely must have at any given moment, he’s given me much latitude to explore, innovate, to make of this internship what I will.

For many students, this might be an invitation to, shall we say, go swimming. I don’t foresee this as being my problem. I am so invested in the idea of Ashoka, in learning their model and making it my own, that I want to use my time as productively as possible. I’d like to work on building partnerships between Ashoka Israel and other citizen-sector organizations, businesses, and individuals. I especially want to focus on Youth Ventures, Ashoka’s program for young leaders and entrepreneurs. Nir has already made in-roads with several Israeli youth groups and I believe some local high schools. I’d like to get to know these contact points, perhaps work with future facilitators, hone the curriculum to best suit Israel’s needs, etc.

Of course, just as I’ve been working on my own internship, I’ve been hearing about the other group members’. Surprisingly, quite a few people have been unhappy – especially the girls at Neve Shalom. I’m going to start visiting some of my friends’ offices, hopefully tomorrow, and then I’ll have a better picture of how my own internship stacks up. Though really, I guess, there’s no comparison – and there never should be. By the end of this trip, I think everyone is going to have had a very different experience. And difference – diversity –is always a good thing.