I have the great pleasure of writing a blog regarding my internship at Impact this year. My name is Thrmiga Sathiyamoorthy and I have been working as the Outreach Coordinator under the leadership of Shane Hebel. These past few weeks working as an intern flew by very fast due to the amount of learning that I encountered. One thing to keep in mind as any intern is to always keep close contact with your supervisor, head advisor, or whoever  that is supporting you. I am very glad that I had Shane there for me all along. Tam and Susie repeatedly told us to use your mentors to help make the most of your internship, and I can confidently say that they are right. That is because these mentors have “been in the business” (at least longer than me) and they know the tricks and trade of it. My main responsibility at Impact was to create new partnerships while maintaining existing ones with other entrepreneurial media centres such as blogs, and magazines. I started my internship by compiling a list of possible partnerships, with no particular selection process. Thanks to Sprouter, I was able to get a hold of many start-up companies. While completing the list, I wondered why Impact needed so many partnerships? Was it not big enough? Sounded like a stupid question to me, but I needed to know why I was making this list. So once again, I contacted Shane (probably for the hundredth time) and asked him. Surprisingly, his answer was not as I anticipated it to be. He told me that by creating these partnerships we would be increasing Impact’s online presence and when we contact other companies we would have more credibility. Simple right? Well, it took me a little longer. Once I finished the list, I started writing the letter/e-mail I would contact these companies with. At first, it seemed like a lot of work. But to my excitement, it got much easier. 

This experience reminded me of another volunteer work I have done at school. Except at school I wasn’t called the “Outreach Coordinator”, I was just another student pulling together a conference. So basically, what I’m trying to say is don’t be afraid of the title you hold. When Shane first told me my title at Impact, I was actually dumbfounded. Me— Outreach Coordinator — it had a special ring to it. But soon I learned it was not much different than what I do in student council. Regardless, this experience is incomparable to what I have done at school. I learned so much about myself through this internship and now have great respect for entrepreneurship.

I would like to thank Impact for giving me the opportunity to work for you. Impact made this August worthwhile. 

P.S I went to Shad UBC (best campus in my opinion!) 

Hello everyone!  This is Shruti Patel from Brampton, ON.  Prior to this internship with Impact, I went to Shad Valley at the Dalhousie University where I basically had the best month of my life.  When I rewind and think back to the month before Shad, I remember the email all the Shads received regarding the Impact internship.  At the time, I asked to be considered for the internship because I wanted something to do with the rest of my summer following Shad but had not really thought about what Impact truly was.  After finding out that I was going to be interviewed, I decided to do a little bit of research, and the more I found out about it, the most interested I became.

Then one day, while I was at Shad, I received an email from Judith Ma, the gala chair, for another interview, and by then, I was pumped for this internship! I had learned a lot of entrepreneurship through Shad and couldn’t wait to wait to get involved in another program that promoted it! For my internship, I am working as External Relations for the Impact Gala. So far I have created a ReviewRoom account where all the attendee’s for the Gala can register and looked for possible people to invite to the event. While researching these people, I was able to familiarize myself with many different industry leaders. 

I would have to saw that the internship has been full of surprises. At the beginning for the internship, I wasn’t quit sure what to expect. The whole idea of working with people virtually was completely new to me. When I first started off, I thought it was a little weird, but I have warmed up to the idea of it. I can talk to people from the Gala team and all the other Shad interns without having to leave my desk!

This internship has been a great learning experience and I have met a lot of new people; two things that I absolutely love! I hope to learn a lot more from this internship!

I’m the third person from the left!

My name is Jade, attended Shad Laval and my official title is: Event Coverage Intern for Impact Digital. It’s unbelievable that this month is almost over! Up until now, I have been brainstorming and prepping for the huge launch of the new and improved Impact website. The new website will be one of the defining factors of this organization; therefore, the promotion campaign for this will have to catch a lot of attention to guarantee ultimate success for this launch (side note: The launch will be around the end of August – the domain name will be impact.org, so look out for it!). Alex Radu, my internship leader, has been a great mentor through his expertise and exceptional guidance in helping unleash my potential in contributing to Impact. From the moment I first spoke to Alex, I instantly noticed his passion and dedication towards this organization – it really inspired me to put in my 110% (and more) into this internship.

Currently, I am sitting in the Hyatt Regency for Impact Apprentice (side note: Impact Apprentice is similar to the reality show: The Apprentice – with Donald Trump. It is a 4-day competition where delegates from all over the nation gather in Toronto and compete in teams. The places where certain challenges take place in include the KPMG building in Toronto, Hard Rock Café, Loose Buttons Office and The Rogers Centre); it’s the first day, and everyone is already hard at work to ensure everything is perfect for the delegates. I am extremely excited to be part of this – the Impact Apprentice team is extremely efficient and wonderful to work alongside.

This entire summer has been a truly enriching one, through the combination of Shad Valley and internship with Impact. I feel I’ve personally grown substantially and improved my leadership and teamwork skills, ability to work independently (since Impact is a very virtual work experience) and communication skills. 

My project team’s first business presentation date (I’m the 2^nd one from the left)! Go Playtra!

This was the day of the final banquet (I’m in the black dress). Everyone (well majority of Shads) pulled an all nighter and cried that night. 

It is my great pleasure to welcome you all to the Shad Valley Impact Internship Blogging project. As 2009 Shad Valley Laval Alum, and a Shad Intern 2 years ago, I am greatly honoured to be Co-Director of the Shad Intern Program along with Tam Nguyen (Shad UBC 2010 Alum). This is my second year with this role and I absolutely loved my job last year and getting to know each of the Shads. Impact has many amazing programs but I love this role because it allows me to relive some of my best moments in my life. Shad was definitely the best experience of my life, and I am very thankful for this internship that got me involved with Impact for over two years.

Shad Valley is an award-winning summer enrichment program for the top high school students in the country to experience 4 weeks of business, entrepreneurship, science, engineering, and leadership. In this month long program, the students are placed at one of ten universities campuses across Canada, where they experience real university life, participate in lectures, seminars, design competitions, and much more. Shad is a truly life changing experience as all the students make life-long friendships, and discover themselves in ways they never thought possible. Personally, Shad has allowed me to discover my talents, pushed me beyond my limits, and definitely made me step outside my comfort zone. I thank Shad for all the opportunities it provided me with, especially getting involved in Impact.

Impact is proud of our partnership with Shad Valley. Our Founder, Kunal Gupta, was a Shad and has since been named Shad Alumnus of the year for his work with Impact. We have dozens of Shad Valley alumni as current and past Impact members. Most importantly, we are thrilled to have the opportunity to work with Canada’s top high school students as part of the Shad Valley Internship program. During the month of August, each student is placed on a project or team and is mentored by current Impact members. The internship provides a great opportunity for the students to apply their skills from Shad and get a close-up look at one of Canada’s largest student-run organizations.

This year, we have selected 11 incredible interns (out of over 100 applicants!) working within our organization. Over the next month, each Shad intern will be writing a blog post about his or her experience with Impact. Thank you to all of the Shads for their hard work and an even bigger thank you to the Shad Valley organization for providing us with the opportunity to take part in their incredible program.

Susie Pan
Shad Valley Internship Program Director
Shad Laval 2009

Shad to Impact

My name is Rohit Vijh and I am the Marketing Assistant for Dave Hale, the Director of Marketing, for my internship. I got to work with my partner Rachel Wong and help get media contacts in Toronto for the I am My Ambition Launch Event on the August 16^th. I learned how to “cold call” (basically call people up out of the blue). It was pretty intense and I was like WAHHHHHH! I can talk to people face to face but on the phone, the situation calls for major AKWARRRRRDDDDNESS!! I guess it worked out fine, but still pretty weird. I really liked this opportunity though; I felt that I could make my own schedule and do my own thing (and still get the job done, obviously). It was a worth-while experience and I really understand the ambiguous world of “marketing” (lights shine on major letters spelling Marketing) or so I think. I really do not know, but it sure has given me a taste of it, and I am hungry for more!

Cheers Shad Impacters! Here’s to a great summer and to the rest of our lives (for the most of us SCHOOL *boooo*)