Creating Change in the Kingston Community

By: Simone Grimaldi and Laura Hudson - SIP Coordinators

Hi everyone! Simone and Laura here, the Social Internship Program (SIP) Coordinators for QSIA. We are 2nd year Commerce students who are passionate about getting involved with social impact initiatives and giving back to our communities. We cherish the opportunity to ignite this passion amongst our peers and the broader Kingston community. As the coordinators for SIP, we are responsible for matching students at the Smith School of Business with non-profit partners where they can leverage their knowledge to solve a business problem faced by their respective partner. This year, we are very proud to work with local non-profits Almost Home and Youth Diversion, as well as international non-profits Make-a-Wish Canada, Win This Fight, and Pathways to Education. This past week, we caught up with the student participants of the program to gain insights on how they have enjoyed their first semester with SIP. Here is what the Almost Home and Youth Diversion team had to say about their experience so far:

Almost Home: We made a phone call with the manager and visited YGK Thrift in person at the start of the project to set ourselves on track. After that, we have been mostly helping with marketing by creating visual graphics and assisting with the incorporation of Almost Home’s charity elements more formally into YGK - increasing exposure to the fact that the two are connected. Also, we are currently discussing with the manager the logistics of installing a donation bin to collect clothing from students, giving advice about the best place to install the bin, and are planning to create more graphics to promote the campaign. Through this extracurricular, we get to acquire real hands-on experiences with real business problems and gain problem-solving skills. We all feel proud of our commitment to this non-profit organization.

Youth Diversion: Working with the Youth Diversion team to further their charity's mission has been a highlight of my first year in the Commerce program. It is inspiring to see an organization like Youth Diversion that directly impacts hundreds of kids' lives every day. I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to participate in the Social Internship Program, where I gained valuable skills and met so many uplifting people!

We encourage all students who are passionate about social impact to explore this opportunity next fall! We have thoroughly enjoyed our time developing and leading this program and have learned so much from each other, the partners, and participating students. 

- Simone and Laura :)