Meet Amanda Leach, an SIS junior majoring in Integrative Studies with a concentration in Social Justice and Human Rights. Read more about her internship with Digital Commonwealth Project via Mason's Center for Social Science Research.
Amanda is interning with the Digital Commonwealth Project, which is through Mason’s Center for Social Science Research which is in the College of Humanities and Social Science. She is an assistant to the project manager, and her responsibilities include: helping with his dissertation research and generate ideas for DCP projects. She also assists with communication between different groups for the Digital Commonwealth Project.
Amanda's recap of a typical day at her DCP internship:
On a typical day, we meet for an hour or two, either in person or on Zoom, we review whatever work I have done up to that point, and he assigns me new work that I then complete independently before meeting with him again in about two days. Some of the skills I have learned are improved time and project management, as well as communication and pitch development. This internship has been able to supplement my coursework quite well since some of the board members of DCP are also my professors for this semester, so I am taking classes that overlap with DCP’s work, further enhancing my understanding of each.
I would absolutely recommend this internship to other students interested in social justice work. If you are excited about new technologies and are interested in developing organizations and programs to harness that technology to tangibly help our local community, this is absolutely work that you should be involved in. It’s been very rewarding knowing that I’m involved in work that I’m passionate about and that will have a real, positive effect on our community. It has really influenced my career goals because I had considered going into nonprofit studies but I didn’t love it, but I am very excited about the kind of work DCP and its partner organizations are doing; I’m glad to have the opportunity to learn about this type of work and network within the field to enhance my chances of working in this field after I graduate. Even if you are not interested in this internship or work, specifically, my advice to other INTS students looking for internships would be to look into the Center for Social Science Research. It’s generally going to be more accessible than working somewhere off campus and will really go well with your classwork; the symbiotic relationship of classes and internship knowledge has been really great.
July 31, 2025