Brianna W. – Remote Program, Summer 2020

“I chose to intern with Onward Israel because after traveling with Birthright last summer, I fell in love with the people, culture, and innovation of Israel. For my internship with Onward Israel, I worked with an innovative company called Insight Sparks, which uses gamified pedagogy programs with educators and youth to reduce discrimination and increase acceptance and belonging between out-group members. Insight Sparks goes to areas that have a history of conflict between groups of people and harnesses augmented reality and in-person programming as an intervention to change the way people perceive each other. I was a Market Analysis intern, where I conducted a market search and survey to find organizations in the U.S. that Insight Sparks could partner with. It was such an incredible experience to help expand this company’s programs, especially in light of the systemic racism that still exists in the U.S. I valued collaborating with my wonderful supervisors and most of all, loved being part of something that could help mitigate people’s implicit biases, which can create and perpetuate conflicts between people.”