Jackie Castaldo
Planned Parenthood
During the fall semester in 2004, I completed my field study requirement by interning at Planned Parenthood in the Mercer area. I was hired specifically to head start the organization of a Vox (voices for planned parenthood) at Princeton University. In addition to this task it was made clear to me that because of the 2004 presidential election I was expected to participate with various voter registration campaigns organized by Planned Parenthood. I chose this internship primarily because I am a member of Vox at TCNJ, and I am quite outspoken about being pro-choice. I am glad that I chose this organization as my internship because I felt comfortable in an environment that I was in some way familiar, and I was pleasantly surprised by the opportunities the internship provided for me.
Being an intern is quite a unique experience. If you are lucky enough to land a job that you enjoy, you have the exhilaration of participating in something you believe in, while at the same time you can’t help but feel insignificant by working without being paid. There were a few days when I cursed my internship because my personal schedule simply didn’t fit in with the somewhat demanding work my internship required (especially because I wasn’t being paid). However there was an equal number of days that I felt proud to wake up early, dress in something other than a TCNJ pullover, drink my morning coffee and go out there with the other 8am road warriors knowing I was entering the workforce. This experience not only reminded me that in a few months I will hopefully have a job similar to my internship, it also gave me comfort in knowing that I will be going out into that world with a Bachelor’s degree under my belt.
My responsibilities as an intern at Planned Parenthood varied from creating fliers, meeting with Princeton students, and doing boring excel programming. My most vivid memory however has to be a moment from the voter registration. My boss (Jackie Cornell) organized a woman-powered voter registration drive outside of the clinic on Monday mornings for three weeks before the deadline of registration submission. On the first day, I arrived at the clinic ready to sign up potential voters; unaware that one of my most humiliating moments was about to occur. Jackie informed me that along with wearing pins and buttons addressing our voter campaign, I was to actually wear a huge sign on my persons in order to attract attention. The whole experience would have been fine if the wind wasn’t blowing the sign up over my head every thirty seconds. I got honks as cars passed by, and jovial passers by who kindly pointed and laughed at my unfortunate state. As I look back at that moment I too laugh, and realize that my discomfort helped a few people register to vote, and to me that made it all worth it.
Everyone’s internship experience is unique, and what is so great about the Feminism in the Workplace course is that all of your classmates are going through the exact same thing as you are. Take the opportunity to share with each other your stories (funny and sad), because there will be no other class in your college education that is quite like this. As we all sat in class every week, I feel like I really connected with the girls (and boys) in my class as we talked about graduating, being an intern, sex, and of course feminism. Long after I am graduated, and I look back on my years at TCNJ, I know my fondest memories will come from the moments shared in Bliss hall on Thursday nights.