We thank Maria-Belén Rivera (UVM) our spring 2022 social media intern, and Caroline Platt (UVM), Muhammad Ammar (Bennington College), Alaura Rich (UVM) our 2022 legislative intern team. Thank you to 2021interns Grace Bickham (UVM), Keith Chatinover (Middlebury College), and Alexandra Sipos (Middlebury College). Among other projects this team worked on data for an upcoming leadership report. Our thanks and hats off to UVM graduate Aidan Fenstermacher (UVM), who helped us keep our COVID-19 dashboard updated, Aidan moved on to a Vermont Department of Health project. Our thanks to Molly Goodspeed, who joined us in fall of 2020 after serving at U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants in the Community Partnership program. Volunteer Emily Pocock (UVM Community International Development (CID) program) worked on public policy issues with us and we are grateful for her time and help. Thanks to Savannah Jackson, who joined us in her last and COVID-19-impacted semester at Northern Vermont University - Lyndon. Huge thanks to multiple-semester intern Brynn Connell, a double major in economics and political science at UVM and heading to a bright future. Thanks to Montpelier High School's Callie-Lyn, a public policy-focused Community Based Learning program intern. Our summer 2018 intern from Northern VT University-Lyndon, Victoria Foster, now Northern Counties Health Care Community Resource Coordinator. Thank you to Miranda Lan, our UVM fall 2017 intern who collected stories and presented testimony at a legislative taskforce public hearing at Vermont Law School. We enjoyed our time with Montpelier High School's Jordan Allen-Brandon, who worked with us through Montpelier High School's Community Based Learning program. Mehanna Borostyan (UVM) and Summer Colley (St. Michaels) were our interns for summer 2017. Ellen Ricker joined us from Norwich University and is now working at a school in Ashville, NC. Alexis Zona and Caroline Keller served as our legislative interns for winter/spring 2016. Caroline worked on the report More than Choice? A Review of the Gender Pay Gap at the Economic and Labor Market Information Division of the Vermont Department of Labor and works as the Data, Evaluation, and Program Technology Specialist at our Change The Story VT partner, Vermont Works for Women. Rebecca White (UVM) now works for Efficiency Vermont, served on the Select Board of her town, Hartford, and serves as Vermont State Representative for the Windsor 4-2 district!! VCW’s former intern, Emily Myers, (see Emily’s quote below) was awarded the Herbert Scoville Jr. Peace Fellowship, and graduated Summa Cum Laude from Union College in 2016. Former intern Ali Shahidy (Norwich) is a women's rights activist from Kabul, Afghanistan, involved in advocacy work that includes The End Violence Against Women project at WorldPulse, Safe Public Spaces Mentoring Program with the Stop Street Harassment project, as well as online activism and conducting workshops on domestic violence. Alexandria Miller also joined us when a student at Norwich. Emmi Hodess (UVM) - see Emmi’s quote below - attended Antioch University's Comparative Women's and Gender Studies in Europe program, and focused on biopolitics and bioethics of reproductive interventions. Caitlin McPherran (UVM) now holds a PhD from Boston College and was the lead author of a study, published in the American Psychological Association’s journal, Developmental Psychology, Children in Low-Income Homes Fare Better in Kindergarten if Moms Work When They Are Babies…watch the NBC news story here. Renee Swain is now Head Start State Collaboration Office Director. Alex Stetter (Montpelier High School) attended Hamilton College and majored in psychology and public policy, minoring in education. Christian Martin (South Burlington High School) worked on our 50th anniversary event in 2014. Baylee Annis (Norwich) lived abroad in Wales, UK, and played rugby for Bristol Ladies Premier Rugby. Rachel Beth Kaplan (UVM) is a yoga instructor and massage and craniosacral therapy practitioner in California. Joanne Infantes (UVM) now holds a Masters in Public Administration. Allyson Perleoni (UVM) is a Legislative Assistant at American Academy of Pediatrics in D.C.. Rachel Weston (UVM/MPA) is a former Vermont State Representative living in Istanbul, Turkey. Denison Goodrich-Schlenker (Oberlin College) is currently a second-year law student at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, pursuing a career in litigation with a focus in the areas of health, gender, and employment. Since her arrival at Berkeley, she’s served as a counselor with the Workers’ Rights Disability Law Clinic, an intern at the East Bay Community Law Center, and a law clerk at the Center for WorkLife Law in San Francisco, where she focused on issues related to pregnancy accommodation and family responsibilities discrimination in the workplace. Shelby Gillespie (UVM) graduated with a degree in Women and Gender Studies. Surbhi Godsay (UVM) pursued a graduate student in Human Services Psychology at the University of Maryland. Emily Blistein (VLS) describes herself as a recovering lawyer and she was a powerful lobbyist for women’s health in Vermont. She’s founded Middlebury’s Clementine store and recently returned to advocacy as Director of Business Strategy for Let's Grow Kids. Melissa Kalinen (VLS) is now at William Jeanes Memorial Library and was previously at University of Pennsylvania Libraries. Morgan Peele (Kenyon) returned from a Fulbright Research Fellowship in Hangzhou, China, where she examined childcare options and work/life balance issues for working mothers in Zhejiang Province, completed her MA in sociology at Indiana University and was a Ph.D. Candidate in Demography at University of Pennsylvania. Oriana Korol (Wesleyan) is a Field Geologist and Filmmaker in Burlington. Lindsay Perlmutter Fitzpatrick (Middlebury) is Policy Research Associate at The Charles A. Dana Center, and a Specialist in Alumni Leadership at Teach For America in Austin, TX. Lillian Wilson (UC Santa Cruz), Katherine E. Smith (Barnard College), Jocelyn Diakon (VLS), and Heidi J. Murphy (UVM and VLS) all served as VCW interns in the early 2000's. Rebecca Adams (Middlebury) now holds a Masters degree in Human Resources and Employee Relations from Penn State University. Sarah Baynard (VLS) was named a Washington Rising Star in the publication Washington Law & Politics. Kristen Huysman (VLS) worked at Department of Justice and at the Vermont Secretary of State's Office. Gwen Papineau is Director of Legislative and Regulatory Communication for the Airport Legislative Alliance and AAAE Regulatory Affairs Department.
“As an intern at the Vermont Commission on Women I learned valuable office skills, researched issues directly affecting Vermont women, and helped develop a comprehensive resource guide that aids women around the state. The women I worked with at VCW were helpful, accommodating, and passionate about their work. I truly enjoyed my internship and it helped shape my future career path. Because of the work I did with the VCW, I became more passionate about the link between politics and women's rights. My time at the VCW helped me gain a deeper understanding of the issues effecting women today and how government agencies and non-profits can work to solve those issues. The experience I gained has also been integral in helping me secure further opportunities at Public Citizen and at the Consortium on Gender Security and Human Rights. My internship at VCW was a wonderful experience and I highly recommend it to students passionate about politics, women's rights, or a career in public service.” Emily Myers (Union College)
“As a Political Science major, I am mostly taught theory and concepts. As an intern, I was able to gain a hands-on experience in the State House and have a better understanding for how to actually work in the political arena rather than just understanding its mechanics. Besides a newfound critical understanding of aspects in the political sector, I have been able to develop a better vision of the work I’d like to do upon graduation. Going into this experience, a goal of mine had been (and still is) to lobby for women’s rights in my future. I had imagined fighting for the ‘basics’: equal pay, pro-choice, rights for domestic violence victims and rape victims, etc. However, this experience helped open my eyes to more opportunities and goals that need to be met for women to achieve full equality. A brief description of a bill may initially not seem to affect women’s rights. However, different angles and sections of the bill do make connections to how they may affect women and it is easy to see how women’s rights are fundamental elements throughout all institutional and societal matters. Unfortunately, there is a lot more that still needs to be done for women’s rights. However, this internship has only provided me with more knowledge and a better ability to facilitate effective change for women in the future and I will be forever grateful for the experience.” Emmi Hodess (UVM)