Meet CMY’s Mary Danckert Youth Intern 2017-18
The Mary Danckert Internship is named after CMY’s Youth Support Manager who worked at CMY from 2005-2013. Now in its fifth cycle, the internship was established to reflect Mary’s passion and commitment to supporting young people. It is designed to provide young people from migrant and refugee backgrounds with hands-on work experience in the not-for-profit sector and nurture the development of their skills, networks and capacity.
Yusra Hasan was CMY’s Mary Danckert Youth Intern for 2017-2018. Here, she reflects on her experience as an integral part of the CMY family…
CMY Youth Intern Reflection
Being the CMY Youth Intern has given me so much – both in terms of the skills I’ve attained and the confidence that I’ve gained. Like many uni students, before starting at CMY I didn’t have a lot of clarity about what pathway I wanted to pursue. The knowledge and experiences I’ve gained throughout my time at CMY have allowed me to learn so much both about myself and about the many opportunities that exist across the youth and multicultural sectors.
Sitting within the Youth Leadership team, I’ve had the opportunity throughout my internship to support the development, management and facilitation of Youth Leadership projects (and sometimes other programs across the organisation). With the added task of putting together and disseminating our youth e-newsletter, The Mix, I’ve also been able to attend some amazing events and forums. The most valuable aspect of my internship, however, have been the wonderful connections that I’ve made both with the staff at CMY and with other like-minded young people.
The internship has provided me with a great balance of structure and flexibility – I’ve been able to improve my skillsets and capabilities, whilst also having the opportunity to learn about and explore the work done by CMY and across the sector more broadly. More than this, I’ve felt continuously supported and inspired – I’ve grown to trust my own abilities and test my boundaries. I’ve also been encouraged to pursue my professional interests and to explore my own capabilities and develop new ones.
It certainly has been a learning and growing experience, many parts of which I will continue to carry with me well beyond the internship. CMY is such a supportive and welcoming environment – I’m happy to have been a part of this vibrant and inspiring community. I’m definitely coming away from this experience with a clarity of purpose and a drive to continue growing.
Yusra has been selected as a member of the 2019 Victorian Youth Congress – an advisory group of young people who are working with government to identify and advocate for issues that matter to young people and to shape policy, programs and services that affect young people.