By Amber Scott

 

Amber Scott, 2009 Summer Intern at the Secular Student Alliance

Along with Jonathan Sussman, I was one of the summer interns for the Secular Student Alliance during the summer of 2009.  I chose to apply for this internship for many reasons, and was delighted to be awarded one of the available spots.  By engaging with the SSA office staff as an intern I learned many things, including office and organizational skills, as well as the finer points of running a student organization, and gained a deeper appreciation of the scope and significance of the operations of the Secular Student Alliance.

There were many reasons that I decided to apply for an internship with the Secular Student Alliance, most significantly because of similarities in my own experience and personal ideology.  One of the most defining experiences of my youth was my engagement in the Unitarian Universalist church.  By attending youth conferences and becoming involved in their planning and leadership I was transformed from a shy young girl into a confident, outspoken proponent of progressive politics and social justice.  A strong humanist thread runs through Unitarian Universalism, and UU’s themselves tend to be allies and sympathizers to the freethought movement.  Being involved in the Unitarian Universalist denomination during my formative high school years helped me develop a deep appreciation for religious and non-religious pluralism, as well as an understanding of the need for secularism in a democratic society.  My involvement crystallized when I came to college and met other campus UU’s, who helped me to co-found an Ohio State University campus ministry group.

My choice of major as an undergraduate also shaped my ideas about diversity and secularism.   I completed my Bachelor’s in art education and am currently a graduate student in the same area.  As a future educator, the need for church state separation and non-theocratic educational materials is extremely evident to me.  In a democratic, pluralist society there is a fine line between teaching and preaching when it comes to world religions.  In particular in the United States there is undue historical stress on Christianity and Christians, though even among our most prominent founding fathers there were non-religious and non-theist figures.  Another reason aside from my own convictions that I chose to apply for an SSA internship was that I had never worked for a non-profit organization before and wished to expand my experience in that area.  As a graduate student living in Columbus I felt that this would be an exciting opportunity to connect more with an organization in my area.

My experiences as a Secular Student Alliance intern were interesting and satisfying, and opened me up to a new realm of possibilities in student organizing and the freethought movement at large.  The SSA staff and associates I worked with were friendly, warm and always ready to help me complete my day to day office tasks.  My main activity as an intern was to revise the document known as the Group Running Guide – a large compendium of best practices that the Secular Student Alliance sends out as part of its group starting packets to jump-start affiliate groups nation-wide.  I really enjoyed this project because I felt that I could lend a lot of insight to the content I was revising and creating.  I have founded and held leadership positions in various student organizations throughout my high school and college career, and was delighted to see so many helpful resources compiled in one document.  Along with my work on the Group Running Guide I learned how to use many programs and web tools in connection to updating the Secular Student Alliance website and managing events such as the Creation Museum Trip and 2009 Conference.

Attending and helping to organize the Creation Museum Trip and 2009 Secular Student Alliance Conference may have been my favorite experiences of my internship.  Meeting students and speakers from across the country with values similar to mine was both enlightening and fun!  Hearing prominent non-theists speak who hold positions in the education world (such as bloggers Hemant Mehta and PZ Myers) inspired me to rally for change and become an ally and advocate for my future students.  It was also refreshing to connect with students from outside of Columbus and to discuss our experiences within the freethought movement.  The Secular Student Alliance does a fabulous job putting on a conference that is both engaging and informative.  After attending I feel pumped up and ready to go back to my local groups to make this the best school year yet!

In addition to all of the experiences and personal growth I gained by participating in this internship, it is clear that having interns present in the office benefits the Secular Student Alliance as a whole.  Having some young, eager freethinkers to hand projects off to helps to free up the staff of the Secular Student Alliance to do campus organizing, fundraising, web development, press releases, and all of the multiplicity of responsibilities that need to be addressed on a daily basis.  Having students in the office also lends a young, grassroots perspective to resources, organization, and event planning.  It is also important to note that by getting students involved in the organizational aspects of the freethought movement increases the chance that these young people will stay involved after graduation.  In its current state the Secular Student Alliance office is shared by Camp Quest and the Humanist Community of Central Ohio.  By meeting the adults behind these organizations and forming professional relationships with them young adults and students can more easily form bonds with respective off-campus groups.

Overall, internship opportunities within the Secular Student Alliance create mutually beneficial relationships between freethinking students and SSA staff, relationships bound to continue to benefit both parties in the future.  It is with great honor and pleasure that I accepted and fulfilled my internship with the Secular Student Alliance; I sincerely hope that many other students will be afforded this opportunity in the future.