Internship Update: Stef McGraw
June 7, 2012
I’m here to give you all an update on what I’ve been doing as CFI On Campus intern, and what it’s like to work here.
I arrived in Amherst about three and a half weeks ago. Luckily for me, I already knew CFI on Campus Coordinator Debbie Goddard, Campus Organizer Dren Asselmeier, Director of Outreach Lauren Becker, and former UNIFI President/new Outreach Assistant Cody Hashman, so it wasn’t a difficult transition into the office environment. There are too many names, but there are several other people in the office I’ve gotten to know as well. It’s a great environment to work in, knowing that no matter where you go in the building, everyone is working towards progressing a more rational, skeptical, and secular society. And you might even run into Joe Nickell, if he isn’t busy investigating UFOs, or something.
My day-to-day tends to focus on the upcoming Leadership Conference. Aside from big-picture planning meetings and taking care of small event details, fellow intern Tony Lakey and I are tasked with contacting campus group leaders, letting them know about the conference, and trying to get them to come. Not that I’m completely guilt-free, but that’s easier said than done—college students on summer vacation tend to be bad about checking their email, replying to Facebook messages, and answering phone calls. Nonetheless, we already have a good group of student leaders registered from all across North America.
Just expressing how much we love CFI.
As I alluded to before, I love the CFI work environment. I still can’t believe I’m getting a stipend to contribute to a cause that I do anyway in my free time. Also, unlike many jobs, you definitely don’t have to worry about people finding out you’re an atheist, or about bringing up a topic that some find taboo, like religion or politics. We have a lot of interesting conversations; most evenings, you can find Tony, Debbie, and I working late while simultaneously discussing some social issue. I doubt that happens in places where people aren’t this passionate about the work they do.
The upcoming two weeks will be hectic, making sure everything is good to go for a conference that will feature three days of speakers and interactive workshops. However, I love every minute of it. I love that I can give back to the conference that was in large part responsible for igniting my passion for the freethinking movement.
About the Author: Stef McGraw
#1 Jessika (Guest) on Monday June 25, 2012 at 12:46pm
I gotta say, my favorite part of Debbie's building tour was "And this is the intern's desk... which is why there's red bull"
:-)