Name: Ayla Conn
Class Year: 2027
Major:   International Studies
Minor: Spanish, Linguistics
 
Internship Organization:  FORA
Internship Title:   Administrative Restorative Justice Intern
Location:  Chicago, IL
 
What’s happening at your internship? We would love to hear what kind of work you are doing!  

What does a day in your internship look like? Forging Opportunities for Refugees in America, or FORA, is a nonprofit located in the heart of the community it serves, a thriving immigrant neighborhood in Northern Chicago. They’ve grown from working with 12 students to nearly 120, providing “High-Impact Tutoring” (HIT) to K-12 refugee students to support their adjustment into Chicago schools and ensure they feel caught up to grade level. As an Administrative Intern, my typical day at work is dynamic—it starts with two 2-hour tutoring sessions, where I work one-on-one with students on math facts and reading fluency. HIT activities might look like warming up with math games, talking through problems in a workbook, or reading a book out loud, pausing for comprehension questions and to sound out new words on a whiteboard. With up to 80 students in the building at a time, the room is always full of energy, from the start of the day at 9:00 until students start to trickle out at 1:30. Then, in the afternoons, the interns stick around to help FORA staff with a variety of projects. I’ve gotten to work directly with several members of staff, including our managing director, to support our budding summer speaker series, coordinate and advertise community events, research new solutions to keep our data organized, and more!

Why did you apply for this internship?  

Why did you apply for this internship? I grew up in the Chicago area, so I was excited by the opportunity to return home to work at an incredible organization located just 15 minutes from my front door. I’ve worked in a handful of tutoring-adjacent jobs on campus, including in the Writing Center and as a language TA, and I hoped to expand those skills while making an impact in a new environment. I also wanted to learn more about how a small, community-driven organization like FORA works behind the scenes.
 
What has been the biggest challenge you have faced at your internship? 

The adjustment from tutoring undergraduates to working with 7-year-olds! The students at FORA are all such hard workers, whether they’re in first grade or rising highschoolers, but working with kids presents a distinct set of challenges that has been a learning curve for me—especially during the summer, when most of them would rather be spending a day relaxing at the beach than wrapping up their subtraction workbook. Just over halfway into my time here, I am starting to feel confident in the strategies I’ve developed to keep different types of learners engaged, and I know I have learned as much from the students as I teach!  

What is most rewarding about your internship? 

The most rewarding part of working at FORA that I could not have expected is the extent to which I’ve felt able to make an impact. Being involved in a student’s “aha!” moment and seeing how they grow over the course of the 8-week summer semester is incredibly valuable. In particular, I’ve been consistently working with one rising sixth grader who was new to FORA this summer. Seeing her accomplish such amazing academic goals, like completing two levels on our math app and finishing a chapter book in the first few weeks alone, in addition to making connections with other students and tutors, has been such a privilege to witness. Our summer speaker series has also been such a fun surprise, as I’ve learned about the career trajectories of a wide range of FORA and Chicagoland community members, from local politicians and business owners to board members and former tutors, and had the opportunity to be in contact with many of these speakers to coordinate their visits.