When a person experiences rejection often enough, phrases such as “Congratulations!” and “We are pleased to offer you” feel foreign upon first glance. So, as one can imagine, I stared in disbelief at the words “we would like to extend the opportunity to you” from The National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
The internship search prior to the moment I received the Sigma Tau Delta Internship with NCTE was just as stressful and frustrating as it had been the summer before. No matter how much experience or knowledge I thought I had, there would always be another applicant with even more to offer.
I kept this in mind when I prepared for my interview, which took place while I was still in the UK for my study abroad. Panic rose in my chest and sweat rolled down my face when my internet suddenly glitched at the hotel I was staying in, and hotel staff kept asking me to move out of the way as I searched for a better signal. Regardless of the less-than-ideal circumstances, I wanted this opportunity more than anything at that very moment.
I was previously unfamiliar with NCTE, but when I took the time to read their mission statement and browse through their website, I found a highly comprehensive collection of resources, news, and other useful teaching tips for English educators. This was the sort of website that I wished my own teachers had known about.
During the six weeks of my internship, I helped develop copy for social media, created spreadsheets tracking membership, reviewed emails and blog posts, and engaged with Google analytics and other website tracking data to determine how to market more efficiently. I also attended meetings focused on publishing, marketing, and social media marketing.
Though I am an English major, I didn’t feel as fluent in my “hard” skills as I thought I needed to be. NCTE helped me to engage more with skills attributable to both a workplace and a classroom. I also worked with wonderful individuals who were willing to share their own advice in pursuing a career in publishing and teaching.
As an aspiring professor with a strong interest in the field of publishing, this internship gave me the best of both worlds. Not only did I see how my work translated into the real world, but it also gave me an idea of what resources, events, and information were relevant to English teachers and educators. This was important to me because I want to make education feel more accessible to all individuals. Academia and the humanities can sometimes give the impression that it is selective in who can participate, but that shouldn’t be the case. With NCTE, I could sense how much each member believed in their work and each other, even if it were through a computer screen. It was nice to know that such individuals supported English teachers and professors, and the community of such individuals is alive and well.
If I were to have any complaints about this internship, it would be not having more time to spend with such a diverse and caring group of people. For that, I am grateful to Sigma Tau Delta and NCTE.
Mei Flory
NCTE Communication Internship Recipient, 2022
Alpha Nu Mu Chapter, Treasurer
University of San Diego, CA
NCTE Awards Administration Internship
Sigma Tau Delta encourages undergraduate student members with interest in fiction and nonfiction literature, literary publications, publishing, and/or library sciences to apply for the NCTE Awards Administrator Internship.
The internship opportunity will be held over six weeks (15 hours per week) from early July through mid-August. The intern will work on various awards administration projects, including preparing programming for the prestigious NCTE children’s book awards, processing award submissions and preparing items for a pool of reviewers for NCTE’s Recognizing Excellence in Art and Literary Magazines (REALM) awards, and preparing materials for the fifteenth anniversary of the Early Career Educators of Color (ECEOC) Leadership Program. Additional projects requiring the curation of existing NCTE content to support current work in a specific topic area, such as nonfiction texts and/or intellectual freedom, may be included.
In addition to these projects, the intern will spend some of their time with key NCTE staff from Marketing, Communications, Publications, Events, and other departments to learn about day-to-day NCTE operations. NCTE is a fully remote organization, so the intern must have access to a computer, video camera, and reliable internet connection.
Stipends from Sigma Tau Delta and NCTE
- Sigma Tau Delta will award the NCTE intern a $300 stipend.
- NCTE will provide the intern with a $1,000 stipend.
The intern will also receive a one-year complimentary NCTE membership after successful completion of the program, as well as a certificate of participation.
Application Deadline and Notification
Applications will be accepted through AwardSpring through April 10, 2023, 11:59 p.m. CDT. The internship will be awarded by May 22. Questions regarding the online submission process should be addressed to [email protected].
Past NCTE Internship Recipients
The Quarter Life Crisis and My Internship with NCTE
Unconventional and Invaluable: My Time as the NCTE Communications Intern
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