Gloria Paz's Spring 2022 Internship with Ayuda

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Gloria Paz, a senior double major in Legal Studies and Political Science at Roger Williams University, spent the Spring 2022 semester interning at Ayuda, a non-profit focused on providing legal, social, and language services for immigrants in the Greater Washington area.

Hello! My name is Gloria Maria Paz, and I am currently in my senior year as a Legal Studies and Political Science double major at Roger Williams University in Bristol, Rhode Island. Last semester I was privileged with the opportunity to study away in Washington, D.C. and intern for a non-profit organization named Ayuda.

Ayuda, which translates to “help”, focuses on providing legal, social, and language services for low-income immigrants in the DMV area. Ayuda has three offices which are located in Washington, D.C., Silver Spring, Maryland, and Fairfax, Virginia. I was fortunate enough to intern for the Operations Team of the D.C. office (I was just a couple blocks from the White House!). In this internship I was able to get a bird's-eye view of what running a non-profit from the business side looks like. I was also able to dive deeper into several different areas. This ranged from working alongside the administration team to answering incoming phone calls and helping the social services team with their food pantry. My favorite part about interning at Ayuda was my coworkers. Ayuda gave me a huge sense of community, every employee was extremely approachable and kind. To this day I am still able to connect with them and reminisce about my time at Ayuda.

One of my favorite memories at Ayuda was the completion of a proposal to repurpose a room within the office. The main purpose of this room was for clients who brought their children and needed to speak to their attorney or case manager privately. Because of the glass door which divided the room, they were still able to have a good view of their child. My proposal was to make this space more welcoming for clients to feel comfortable.

I was able to create a welcoming environment within the original room by incorporating wall décor to add dimension, and providing tissues, hand sanitizer, and masks if needed. This transformed the space from looking cold and similar to an interrogation room, to a more comfortable and inviting space. I was also able to create a more welcoming area for the children of clients. I did this by adding wall decals of cartoon fish on one side, and a world map on the other. I also added a children’s table with chairs and some books. I repurposed the white/chalkboard originally in the room by drawing a sign that welcomes clients in both English and Spanish. Overall, my time in D.C. was extremely beneficial. I was able to make life-long connections, learn many new things, and experience what living in D.C. is like.

Main point– if you have the opportunity and financial means to go, definitely do it. It was such a great experience and you make a ton of connections.

What a typical day workday looked like:

Morning

  • Woke up, got ready, and ate breakfast

  • Walked from the Paramount to the Metro (definitely go through the Marriott)

  • Took the blue line from Crystal City to Farragut West (around a 15 min commute)

  • Walked to my internship site (less than a 10 min walk)

  • Once I arrived, I started my day by checking/responding to emails

  • The other intern working with me would make coffee for everyone (she made the best coffee)

  • Worked on projects or with certain teams if they needed my help

Afternoon

  • Took my 1 hour lunch break (if I didn’t pack a lunch I would eat at one of the recommendations I will put below)

  • Finished any projects or meetings for the day

Evening

  • Took the blue line home (the commute home was always packed so standing was common)

  • Walked to my apartment (through the Marriott again; it always smelled like freshly mopped floors when you walked through)

  • Made dinner and then spent the rest of my free time either doing homework or relaxing

Food recommendations:

CAVA

Such great food! You get a good amount and the taste is just so great. It's similar to chipotle in how they serve you your food. I only ever ordered a rice bowl and switched up what I would put in it. The meatballs and chicken are very good. Sweet potatoes too! I also recommend the pita chips and tahini Caesar.

Surf Side Tacos

I will say, these tacos are EXPENSIVE. Especially for me… I’m Hispanic so I know what tacos are supposed to cost and just how cheap you can get them for. I can’t lie about the price, but the taste. So Good. I never had crispy chicken tacos before so I was surprised but these were super good. Not to mention the birra tacos… If you have never had birra tacos– you just have to try it.

Krispy Kreme

The glazed donuts…I have no words. We don’t have Krispy Kreme in my state, so I tried a glazed donut from here for the first time while in D.C. If you haven’t tried it, you definitely should. Just make sure they are warm, it makes all the difference.

Grill Kabob

The chicken kabob platter is amazing! First of all, you get a huge platter that you could share with two people or save for a meal later. But this food is just hands down amazing. It tastes so homemade.

Roaming Rooster

I ended up going here with my roommate because we saw pictures of their chicken sandwiches. You know how people can take a picture of a food item and then it never tastes as good as it looks? Well this isn’t the case with Roaming Rooster chicken sandwiches. I was shocked with how good they were. Definitely worth the wait (which was pretty long because so many people wanted some). Just to prove how good they looked, people even stopped my roommate and I to ask about them.