“I wanted to be more of a friend, not a teacher”. That is how former intern Meghan Pennock described her experience working with Huertas back in 2018. As do many opportunities in life, Meghan’s introduction to Huertas arrived rather coincidentally. In one of the classes during her freshman year, another former intern came in to talk to the students about the internship. The garden project really intrigued and excited her, but it wasn’t until three years later that she took the leap and applied to the internship herself.
When I interviewed Meghan for this blog, she noted that being an intern for Huertas provided her with many meaningful and valuable takeaways. She explained the importance of how development projects should be focused on helping people help themselves, not just a “giving and forgetting” outcome. According to Meghan, “that is how we can build strong and resilient communities”, and also how we can provide the tools for people to get by in difficult life settings. Meghan also explained her realization about the importance of trust and community across all different cultures. As a Huertas intern myself, I’ve learned that when trying to make friendships with people that come from different walks of life, building bridges through empathy and mutual support is truly key.
Of course, Meghan did encounter challenges as an intern. Mainly, she recalled her language barrier with many of the people that she worked with. While Meghan does speak Spanish, she is not fluent, which made some of her interactions a little difficult, perhaps uncomfortable. That said, Meghan was able to put herself in the shoes of a migrant worker. This is a barrier that the migrant workers themselves endure on a daily basis since most of them do not speak English, which in turn further isolates them from their communities here in Vermont. Despite this obstacle, Meghan used this experience to improve her Spanish skills and made many friends along the way that she is still in contact with today.
Moreover, this internship experience tied in very well with her field of study at the University of Vermont. Meghan graduated with a degree in community and international development, which she argued was the essence of this internship. As an intern, Meghan was able to experience first-hand issues of food insecurity, the inability for families to access healthy and nutritious foods, and other challenges that migrant households face in Vermont. As a result of what she learned through Huertas, Meghan is now able to use her knowledge and first-hand experience in other migrant worker initiatives that are offered through UVM Extension. Not only is she able to continue to foster the friendships with the people that she met during her internship, but she now has the tools to navigate the difficult waters that emerge while working with this demographic.
For anybody looking for a meaningful and profound internship experience, consider Huertas and the work that they do to ensure culturally appropriate foods to migrant households. While the project is small, the impact is massive, and most importantly, the friendships are everlasting.