Welcome Interns and Volunteers Semester 2, 2022

Submitted by sacommunity on Mon, 07/25/2022 - 09:36

Interns Julia Koh, JD, Volunteer Ziqi Xu, Interns Taylor Alland and Cecilia Mao

The SAcommunity Team welcomed our new interns and volunteers on the 25 July 2022 for Semester 2, 2022 at the Connecting Up Adelaide office. SAcommunity and Connecting Up are services of Infoxchange, a not-for-profit social enterprise that has been delivering technology for social justice for over 30 years. With over 180 staff across Australia and New Zealand, we tackle the biggest social challenges through the smart and creative use of technology.

Why internships?
The aims of internships are to provide students with an opportunity to gain insight and understanding of their field of study and future career pathways. Students are able to undertake relevant projects to put their research and communication skills into practice.

Consequently, these projects enable students to gain insight into the functions and operations of a professional workplace, and participate in the day-to-day operations of a tech-based office environment with guidance from a workplace supervisor and staff.

In addition, students can learn more about our organisation if they were interested in working with us at Infoxchange, and finding more about our organisation, mission, and our people, with offices located across Australia in Melbourne, Adelaide and Brisbane and Christchurch in New Zealand.

Photo: Connecting Up All-Staff Monthly Hybrid Meeting (onsite/remote) 9 August 2022 with Head of Connecting Up Pankaj Chhalotre and staff and interns Taylor Alland, Julia Koh and JD in attendance, introducing themselves and their projects.

Meeting our new Team
It was great for our students to be able to start the week onsite, joining our other SAcommunity team members who operate both onsite and remotely, assisting us in providing the SAcommunity service, as well as to meet the other Infoxchange staff who provide the Connecting Up service at our Adelaide office.

Break-time office table tennis challenge, a critical sport for staff, intern and volunteer wellbeing!

Data Analytics Team
Our Adelaide University Faculty of Engineering, Computer Sciences, Mathematics and Sciences Interns Julia Koh (Mathematical Sciences) and JD (Information Technology) will join our Data Analytics Team, led by volunteer Stathis Avramis. They will create statistics reports on the community services operating across various councils, with SAcommunity page visits reflecting service demands, providing an indication of social needs in these areas for use for council or electorate decision-making.

During their internship, students will also have the opportunity to meet with their self-chosen mentor Thiya Reddy, Infoxchange Project Manager and Senior Business Analyst for an online mentor meeting. Whilst Ziqi Xu, our new volunteer currently studying at UniSA will have the opportunity to meet up with Robert Kalka, Business Development Manager as part of the volunteer and intern mentor program.

Media and Communications Team
Our Adelaide University Faculty of Arts, Business, Law & Economics Interns will join our Media and Communications Team. Taylor Alland (Media Intern) and Cecilia Mao (Business Management and our mid-term intern Fahmid Kibria will plan, create and present storytelling articles on South Australian community services for SAcommunity utilising the website blog, media channels and cultimating in the September eNews release.

Taylor will have the opportunity to meet his chosen mentor Grant Smyth, Conference and Communications Manager, Cecilia Mao will meet Jean Mui, Digital Event Manager and our mid-term intern Fahmid Kibria will meet Sam Lloyd, Marketing Lead - Products and Services to create connections and further discuss their career aspirations.

Interns Cecilia Mao, Taylor Alland Volunteer Stathis Avramis, Interns Fahmid Kibria, JD, Julia Koh, and Volunteer Ziqi Xu