#internshipgoals

"Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there! Step out of your comfort zone and push yourself to learn the most you possibly can."

Kait transitioned from intern in Professional Services to a full-time position as Program Delivery Coordinator with the same team. She says that "the relationships and projects I worked on with this team were essential for moving forward into this position."&nbsp;

Kait, a recent University of Redlands graduate, connected her Environmental Studies major to her story map's focus: Sustainable Development Goal 15, Life on Land.

Josh also tackled Sustainable Development Goal 6 in his story created with the ArcGIS StoryMaps builder.

After completing the internship and story maps competition, Kait offered this advice to other interns and new employees.

Esri introduced the 2019 intern class to the Sustainable Development Goals and the important role geospatial tools can play in achieving them through a story maps competition.

Click on the Who's Protecting Mother Earth? story, created with the ArcGIS StoryMaps builder, to interact with and explore the topic.

﻿"I got to write about an issue that I'm passionate about and bring in a bunch of creative elements through Story Maps to convey the information in an engaging way!" -Abby England

<li>Global food security statistics<li>Personal stories of individuals who support Zero Hunger and combat food insecurity around the globe</li><li>A spotlight on a professor who works in rural Senegalese communities to improve crop yields</li><li>A profile on a Los Angeles initiative that not only feeds the city but also educates its residents about holistic nourishment and access to healthy food</li></li>

The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2019

Esri summer interns gain valuable experience, establish important relationships, and tackle the UN's Sustainable Development Goals

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"I chose to focus on the Clean Water and Sanitation goal because it is something that looks so different in every country where it’s an issue... I’m a firm believer that in order to achieve socio-economic change, the history behind it must be deeply understood beforehand. That’s why history is such a major theme in my story map." -Josh Clifford

Esri is focused on many of these same areas—it is in the heart of what we do.&nbsp;Esri was founded to help solve some of the world’s most difficult problems.We believe that GIS provides the platform for achieving Sustainable Development.&nbsp;

The <a href="https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals</a> are a&nbsp;shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future. They are an urgent call for action by all countries—developed and developing—in a global partnership. They recognize that ending poverty and other deprivations must go hand-in-hand with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth—all while tackling climate change and working to preserve our oceans and forests.&nbsp;&nbsp;

As for their favorite parts of the internship experience, here's what Samantha, Abby, and Josh all had to say:

Samantha, a GeoDesign major at the University of Southern California, addressed Sustainable Development Goal 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation) in her story map, which earned top marks for stories created with the classic builder. 

<li>Conducted quality assurance testing for <a href="https://www.esri.com/en-us/arcgis/products/explorer-for-arcgis" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Explorer for ArcGIS</a><li>Created and published a <a href="https://community.esri.com/groups/navigator/blog/2019/09/05/transforming-polylines-into-route-layers-tutorial" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Navigator Tutorial</a> on GeoNet, Esri's community site</li><li>Made demonstration videos for Explorer that were used at the 2019 Esri User Conference, the largest GIS conference in the world</li></li>

Pictured: Josh Clifford enjoying the beautiful landscapes of an Esri internship. Photo courtesy Josh Clifford, intern.

What's the most memorable or noteworthy part of an Esri internship?

<li>Select one Sustainable Development Goal<li>Use either the <a href="https://storymaps-classic.arcgis.com/en/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">classic Esri story maps template</a> or the new <a href="https://www.esri.com/en-us/arcgis/products/arcgis-storymaps/overview" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">ArcGIS StoryMaps builder</a> to tell a story about the chosen goal</li></li>

Samantha Levi, winner of the category for classic Esri Story Maps

Get more information about Esri's internship program and about current opportunities to be a part of something big.

An informative Story Map about the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal #6: Clean Water and Sanitation

Clean Water and Sanitation

"To anybody considering an Esri internship I couldn’t recommend it enough. I interned here the summer after I graduated from college, and I really had no idea what I wanted to do with my life... I certainly had no idea Product Documentation was a career option until my internship, and now it’s my full-time job!&nbsp;" -Josh Clifford

Interns experience unmatched mentorship and comaraderie...

Using the new StoryMaps builder, Abby moved from a global perspective of food security to local concerns through changing story elements including:

Internship opportunities are available at our headquarters in sunny Southern California as well as a number of other Esri offices.

Pictured: 2019 Esri summer interns at the headquarters office in Redlands, California. Photo courtesy Leslie Wilson, Esri internship coordinator.

Samantha is the president of SC Mappers, a chapter of the international YouthMappers organization that generates crowdsourced geospatial data for use in humanitarian air and natural disaster response all over the world.&nbsp;

Maps are a language for common understanding—understanding of&nbsp;progress and challenges in achieving the goals—and we believe that geospatial data, spatial analysis, and Earth observations in a GIS&nbsp;platform together can provide the&nbsp;insight needed to support the global indicator framework.&nbsp;

His double major in Geography and Comparative Literature combined with a GIS certificate prepared him well for hands-on work with the ArcGIS Field Apps team, where he:

Pictured: Samantha Levi and Abby England enjoy down time during their 2019 internship. Photo courtesy Abby England, intern.

Abby's story focused on Sustainable Development Goal 2, Zero Hunger, a topic aligned with her academic coursework in geography and food security.

Abby England, a Virginia Tech student, won the competition in the ArcGIS StoryMaps category.

Harness the power of maps to tell stories that matter. ArcGIS StoryMaps has everything you need to create remarkable stories that give your maps meaning.

Who's Protecting Mother Earth?

Click on the Access and Adversity story to interact with and explore the topic.

ArcGIS StoryMaps helps you tell remarkable stories with custom maps that inform and inspire. A story can effect change, influence opinion, and create awareness-and maps are an integral part of storytelling. ArcGIS StoryMaps can give your narrative a stronger sense of place, illustrate spatial relationships, and add visual appeal and credibility to your ideas.

Digital Storytelling with Maps | ArcGIS StoryMaps

with professional development opportunities and the chance to solve real-world problems with guidance from Esri staff.

While many Esri interns study computer science, GIS, or geography fields, innovative thinkers from liberal arts or business majors are just as at home here.

Access & Adversity

While this can seem like ambitious work for an intern and recent grad, Josh "had an incredible team of mentors who taught [him] so much about scripting, mobile GIS application, and software development." The internship provided the technical, communication, and collaborative skills for success in his current position as a full-time product writer on the Field Apps team.

Each year more than 100 students are accepted into our internship program.

Esri's StoryMaps and Living Atlas teams provided the interns with initial training and tips. And the interns took the challenge and ran with meaningful stories, from environmental justice to food insecurity. A winner would be selected for stories created with the classic templates and for stories made with the new builder.

Although new to story maps, Abby presented a clear and effective story about food security, with a call to action.

Pushing their skills farther: the Sustainable Development Goals Storytellng Competition for 2019 Esri Interns

Click on the Clean Water and Sanitation story, built with the Story Map Cascade template, to interact with and explore the topic.

Josh, a University of Georgia grad, jump started his career last summer with an Esri internship. 

Pictured: 2019 Esri summer interns at the headquarters office in Redlands, California. Photo courtesy Samantha Levi, intern.

"Definitely the bond with all the other interns. Especially since many of us lived very close to each other, I really feel that I made some great lifelong friendships and connections." -Samantha Levi

"The story maps contest was one of my favorite parts of the internship! ... I think storytelling is one of the most powerful tools that humans have to preserve tradition and inspire positive change. I am most in my element when I can combine my passions of writing and geography to tell a story worth sharing." -Josh Clifford

"The past year I had worked with a tribe in Panama to understand their struggles and how they have been effected by illegal deforestation, denial of land/human rights due to residing in a protected area that is not enforced, and decrease in local biodiversity. Since they are not given a voice in their country, I wanted to give them a voice in this story map–in relation to the UN’s mission and purpose of these Sustainable Development Goals." -Kait Driessnack

Actually, Josh's internship experience is pretty typical here at Esri.

"My favorite part was being able to get to know my team. It was a big transition coming from Georgia to Maine, but everyone at Esri made it so easy to adjust. I was overwhelmed with technology I hadn’t used before and with tasks I never thought I would be doing, but my mentors here offered nothing but support as I learned. Plus, Portland is just such a cool place to live and explore!"&nbsp;-Josh Clifford

Pictured: Abby England and her colleagues make the most of project presentations during their 2019 internship. Photo courtesy Abby England, intern.

"My most memorable part of being an Esri intern was becoming close with my intern cohort, specifically the other Support interns, and improving my own skills by learning from their specialties within the field. I also loved getting an insight into the Esri lifestyle and way of thinking, which is challenging and inspiring!" -Abby England

Get the meaning behind the story maps from our Esri interns, in their own words.

"Especially after having lived in California, I have an immense appreciation for water conservation and the importance of being smart about our water consumption. Basically I wanted to highlight the fact that not everybody in the world is lucky enough&nbsp;to have clean drinking water every day, so we should be more conservative with the amount of water we use on a daily basis." -Samantha Levi&nbsp;

"The Story Map Competition was what I was most excited for regarding intern events. I have created many story maps over the years and they’re my favorite way to combine visuals and narration into one platform to convey the bigger picture of things to an audience."&nbsp;-Kait Driessnack