Run the Moon, San Bruno, CA
What do 220 miles, positive psychology, and this summer have in common? This amazing internship! I am beyond blessed to have been part of the 2021 Run the Moon internship team. Working with KK Fischer ’08 (ultra-runner, CEO, and incredible human being), I teamed up with three other interns to bring Run the Moon (RTM), a 220-mile virtual race, to life. It’s an astronomical adventure of mind, body, and soul, designed to be fun and exciting while also tackling challenging aspects of well-being, such as cultivating gratitude, leaning into joy and vulnerability, and developing healthier habits to live a life of thriving rather than surviving.
While my original job description was limited to psychology research, my role in actuality became so much more than that. Because we were ultimately helping to create a startup, this internship challenged all of us to take extreme ownership of the work we were doing. We were each charged with crafting our own workstreams, setting deadlines, and communicating our needs, anxieties, and updates with the team. While we each did an incredible amount of work independently, it was truly a team effort that allowed us to accomplish everything we did.
Towards the end of the internship, I got to dip my toes into research regarding the process of becoming B-Corp Certified. Early on we decided to place extreme importance of social responsibility onto the race and how we, as an organization, could impact the world. All proceeds from the race are being given to support the Hoffman Process, “a not-for-profit organization dedicated to transformative adult education, spiritual growth, and the personal dimensions of leadership.” Additionally, we are working towards being carbon negative through Ecologi, where we have planted 346 trees to date.
Far from typical, this summer surpassed all expectations of what I thought my first internship would be like. While most of our summer consisted of remote work, we had the amazing opportunity to fly out to San Francisco to all work together, in-person, for the week of our race’s launch date. Aside from getting to experience the incredible trails and sights that the west coast has to offer, we also got to connect with Michelle Darné, a prominent figure working to develop Bloom, an organization dedicated to creating spaces for economically disadvantaged people to thrive. As much as I have loved working with RTM, Bloom is much more in line with the kind of work I could see myself doing as a career. It really helped me realize how much of a connection I have to people at-risk for homelessness and the LGBTQ+ community. Overall, this internship has been instrumental in helping me get closer to developing a sense for what I want to do after Williams. I’d really like to extend my gratitude to KK, who fostered a supportive environment and set challenging expectations for us to really give our all. I’d also like to express my gratitude to the ’68 Center and Mr. and Mrs. Case, through which all of this was possible. This internship was truly life changing and I look forward to what the future might hold after this.
Megamenu Social