My name is Sophia Sogaard. I joined IARS at the end of April as the User Engagement Coordinator, having just finished my BA in Philosophy at King’s College London. I got this amazing opportunity through the Jack Petchey Internship Programme, which aims to create roles for young people in the third sector.
At IARS, I work on delivering a community-focused and user-led approach across the organisation. This involves helping to co-ordinate the internships and volunteering roles that IARS offer, as well as some project and communications work. Despite only having been at IARS for just over a month, I have already learnt so much. I am especially excited to be working with the members of our Advisory Boards and other volunteers. I’m very grateful to the IARS team for how welcoming and supportive they’ve been.
I am also very grateful to the Jack Petchey Foundation for providing this internship programme and offering an incredible amount of support alongside it. On the 26th and 27th May, I attended the opening conference for the programme. This was a chance to meet all the other interns, as well as attend some training and networking sessions. It was so inspiring to meet all the other young people determined to fight for their change in their communities. In the future, I hope to pursue further study in the field of international human rights, and I’m sure that I will look back gratefully at both IARS and the Jack Petchey Foundation and the skills I learnt here.
