Green Light Interns
Green Light runs because of the help from volunteers and interns. Currently, Green Light has 4 interns working with us: Shakthi, Zhitong, Liat, and Nick.
Shakthi’s Green Light story began long before she became the Office Administration Assistant intern in January. Shakthi was a part of one of Green Light’s original service learning programs with the garden program, which was conducted at Ben Franklin. As a student, Shakthi learned about Green Light’s programs and then helped install light bulbs and garden beds. She has since graduated from Ben Franklin in 2012 and Tulane in 2016. Shakthi knew she wanted to return to work with Green Light, so she became an intern! Shakthi is currently working to clean up our database. With over 53,000 files, she has her work cut out for her. Now, calling program participants has never been easier thanks to everything Shakthi has done!
Zhitong is a long term intern with Green Light. She’s always at the office with a great attitude. Zhitong is our resident photographer. She is skilled at making our work look good with pictures! She also helps out frequently with the Light Bulb program. It’s great to have someone around who is willing to help out where needed. We have enjoyed learning about Chinese culture as Zhitong frequently shares foods, traditions, and stories with the office! Most recently, Zhitong brought us delicious dumplings for Chinese new year.
Liat is a senior at Tulane University, studying psychology and environmental studies. She spent some time volunteering with us in the fall to help us learn more about seed saving, and now she is assisting with all aspects of our garden program. She is interviewing gardeners and farmers for a special Green Light project, helping in the Edible Teaching Garden, and is always available for any other garden-related needs we might have! We’re lucky to have Liat for another semester at Green Light.
Nick is an exchange student from Switzerland who worked with Green Light for the past month while exploring New Orleans before heading back home. He has helped out in a sparkling rainbow of ways by working at the edible teaching garden, organizing around the office, painting rain barrels and garden beds, installing light bulbs, and being generally helpful and awesome. We asked Nick to talk about his time with Green Light. Here’s what he had to say: “What I probably liked the most about interning at Green Light was exchanging light bulbs in different households. We did something good for the environment and for the people by exchanging the light bulbs. It was a good feeling, and it was nice to see how people really appreciated our work and looked forward to being a part of the change. I also liked the other projects: the rain barrels and the gardens. All these things are basic, simple actions, but they have a big impact if there are a lot of people doing them. This taught me that it doesn’t have to be a revolutionary brand-new idea to change things; it’s about believing in the projects and just going for it. Greenlight already has a big impact in thousands of households and nature, which is amazing if you think about the fact that it just started with changing lightbulbs. I really enjoyed my time here and learned a lot. If you’re not sure if you should volunteer here or not: just do it, you won’t loose with it.” -Nick