Summer Internships Start Today!
We're thrilled to announce that our Summer Internship Program has officially kicked off, with orientation led by our Associate Director of Operations and Development, Madison Smoak. After a competitive application process, we've welcomed five students to the Turner Foundation family!
Meet Our Summer Interns
This summer, we're fortunate to have interns joining us from diverse academic backgrounds at UCSB, Westmont College, and San Diego State University. Kyle, Sebastian, Arianne, Preston, and Madison (who continues from our spring program) bring fresh perspectives and enthusiasm to our work. Many are recent graduates transitioning to professional roles while gaining valuable nonprofit experience, while others are seeking to develop workplace skills that will serve them throughout their careers.
Several interns discovered the Turner Foundation through previous intern connections or through our partnership with Westmont's Career Center. Their motivations vary from exploring nonprofit careers to developing professional skills, with one intern even preparing for law school by focusing on policy and organizational operations.
Making an Impact This Summer
Our interns will be supporting critical initiatives across the foundation:
Summer Learning Centers: Two interns will help with our eight-week summer camp beginning in June, supporting field trips, tutoring, and curriculum development. This program focuses intensively on reading to prevent summer learning loss among our youth participants.
Development and Grants: May and June represent a heavy grant season, giving interns hands-on experience drafting letters of intent and learning to write for professional audiences outside the academic environment.
Communications and Media: Interns will create social media content and design promotional materials for upcoming events and programs.
Operations: Behind-the-scenes work provides interns with valuable exposure to nonprofit management, including budget creation, insurance considerations, and program administration.
Lifting People Up – The Value of Internships
The internship program perfectly aligns with our mission of "lifting people up" in multiple ways. Many of our interns fall within the 18-24 age range that our Transitional Age Living Program serves, extending our impact to another group of young adults needing professional development opportunities.
Madison shared that interns bring "excitement for their futures" and creative ideas that help refresh the foundation's perspective. "Sometimes we get into ruts and can't see things outside of our office," she noted. "They end up giving back to us because they give us all this time and it's with a lot of joy."
The collaborative relationship benefits both parties—interns gain professional experience while staff members rethink systems and approaches through fresh eyes.
Words of Wisdom
Madison offers this advice to current and future interns: "Trust the process." While the beginning can feel overwhelming on both sides, those who approach each task with a positive attitude—whether restocking supplies or drafting grant proposals—gain the most from their experience. "Their attitude is really the biggest thing that they can bring to the process. If they just trust themselves throughout it and try to be positive, they get more out of it than if they see it as limited."
Join Us This Fall!
Interested in interning with the Turner Foundation for the fall semester? Our application process begins soon! Fall internship postings will be available by June 1st, and we welcome applicants from all local institutions (with many coming from Westmont and UCSB).
The application process includes:
Submitting a cover letter and resume
An in-person interview
Background checks and references
Potential additional interviews with program staff
Don't miss this opportunity to develop professional skills while contributing to our mission of lifting people up in the Santa Barbara community!
