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Disclaimer: Due to the confidentiality of the work and a signed NDA, I was unable to capture or share many images from my time in the office
Week 1 & 2 — Settling In and Meeting with Clients
During the first week of my internship, I was nervous! I was joining the office a week after the other interns had already started, and by the time I arrived, most had received their case assignments and gotten into a rhythm. They were on email chains I wasn't added to, working with documents I hadn’t seen before, and had already gotten to know each other. For a moment, I felt like I was behind and would feel out of place.
That changed almost immediately. My cubicle mate, Marwa, was a saving grace. She helped me get caught up, walked me through unfamiliar documents, added me to all of the email threads I missed, and made space for my questions. Everyone in the office was kind and welcoming—they were genuinely open to getting to know me and helping me settle into the space.
In my first week, I received my asylum and SIJS client assignments. While the first few days were focused on outreach, Week 2 was full of in-person meetings—sometimes one or two each day. I was determined to meet with all of my clients early in order to start on completing their case; writing their declarations, and scanning and uploading their supporting documents.
Marwa (on the left, my cube mate) and Madi (our cubicle neighbor) working on a research project together!
First Intern Lunch!
The view of the office from my cubicle
I will admit that there were some challenges when communicating with Spanish clients, but it was a learning curve that took no time to accustom myself to. In the office, we all made use of each other's language strengths to ensure that the messages we were sending to our clients were delivered with a proper emotional tone. When meeting with Spanish clients in person, I relied on Language Line Solutions for real-time interpretation.
This was different for French-speaking clients, as a fluent French speaker. After my first few meetings with my French clients, I grew more confident speaking in French, especially in sensitive conversations. It was intimidating at first to navigate these discussions in a language that isn’t my first, but the clients were gracious and understanding.
Corinne (another PR intern) and I heading uptown to pick up a diaper delivery for the office!
Outside of direct client work, I was also assigned to two research tasks during this week. I am not allowed to disclose any information on those two research tasks, but they taught me how to read country condition reports with an intention—something I hadn’t expected to dive into so early in my internship.
Looking back, Weeks 1 and 2 really prepared me for what was to come at Project Rousseau!
Intern Coffee Break!
Week 3 & 4 — Settling In and Moving Forward
During Week 3, I really started to find my work rhythm. Much of the week was spent doing focused paperwork—writing affidavits, drafting/finalizing SIJS paperwork, and continuing to draft declarations for my asylum clients. Most days during this week looked like me coming into the office, greeting everyone, settling in, and getting straight to work. I really felt myself entering a flow state and becoming more confident in what I was producing.
I was also assigned to review a few legal memos. I would be assigned to a docket, and be asked to flag any errors and make any corrections that were needed.
At one point during week 3, I was placed on a time-sensitive declaration for a French-speaking client due by the end of the day that another intern was working on. I quickly set aside my tasks and ensured that the declaration was completed on time, and accurately.
These tasks helped me realize how fast-paced this work can be, and I definitely appreciated being trusted with work that mattered.
Remote work day + My temporary office space
Week 4 involved a lot more direct client interaction. I needed to meet with the children of SIJS applicants to get more details for their petitioner affidavits. While in these conversations, I always made sure to find ways to help my clients feel comfortable (offering them water, and reminding them that they could take their time).
After more serious conversations, we would always have small talk afterwards to calm the mood. I recall a few of them asked me questions about my life in New York, and about more informal things things such as the hair products I used. This contrast in interaction with my clients allowed for the growth of more personal connections, indicated to me that they were comfortable with me on more informal and personal levels.
Offering the kids of clients our snacks!
During this week, I started to build a strong relationship with the mother of one of my SIJS clients. Seeing her felt so familiar, and it motivated me during the busier days when I would find myself working on cases and tasks. Every time time she came into the office, we greeted each other with a hug and caught up on our week. She'd ask me questions about the SIJS process, and I'd always make sure to find the answer. Overtime, she felt like family.
This period also included a lot of translation work. I started translating documents from Spanish and French to English. I also translated documents in Pashto and Dari to English using the Tarjimly platform, which connected me with remote interpreters.
To detail the "translation" task, it required me to take documents—like a birth certificate from Guinea—and recreate them in English, using Google Sheets to create the visual resemblance. I had to format the translation to mirror the original line by line, redrawing tables and sections to make sure they matched the original document exactly. Though a tedious task, it was one that I quickly got the hang of.
The 4th floor café that we used to eat in on hot days
By the end of Week 4, I will say that using Language Line Solutions felt like second nature for me when approaching Spanish interpretation, and speaking French with clients continued to feel much more natural during my meetings.
While week 3 and 4 were not the most emotionally intense of the internship, they were filled with meaningful work and steady progress.
Leon (another PR intern) entertaining one of our client's children while their mother is being interviewed
Week 5 & 6 — Finishing Up Tasks and Saying Goodbye's
Week 5 was, hands down, the most stressful part of my internship. The July 4th holiday cut the week short, and with my last few days approaching, everything suddenly felt like it needed to be done yesterday. I had spent so much of the previous weeks working on declarations and meeting with clients, and now it was time to finalize everything—forms, affidavits, memos, and supporting documents. I felt the pressure not just from deadlines, but from how much I cared about the people I was helping. I wanted to leave things in a good place, so that who ever would take on the work after me would feel prepared and confident.
I was finalizing forms like the 6-1, 6-1A, 6-3, 6-4, and OCFS 3909. I was also revising declarations, working on memos of law, and handling a bunch of translations. For the translations, I continued to use Tarjimly when needed. It felt like a lot. Some days, I bounced between meetings, edits, and research without much of a break. But I was starting to get used to that kind of pace. I asked questions when I needed to, leaned on my team, and kept pushing through.
Us eating our last intern dinner in the conference room (in the dark)
Taking my last photo goodbye of Sophia, Leon and Marwa!
By Week 6, things were winding down. I got all of my SIJS clients' documents signed, notarized, and filed. While that felt good, saying goodbye didn’t. One moment that hit me was when the same mother of one of my SIJS client asked me about what was next for me after the internship. She wished me luck and thanked me for all of the work that I did for her family. We had built a real connection, and knowing I wouldn’t be able to check in like I used to was tough.
I also wrapped up things with my asylum clients. Helping them tell their stories and seeing their trust in me grow meant a lot. And at that point, I felt completely comfortable in the Project Rousseau office. I greeted Kim and Daniela (our Internship supervisors) in the mornings, shared laughs with people around the office, and even offered advice and tips to newer interns. The growth wasn’t just in the work I did—it was in how I carried myself and how I felt in a space that once felt so unfamiliar.
On my last day, I wrote some thank-you cards to the people that helped me—Beth, Andrew, Kim, Daniela—brought a gift for the office, and said goodbye. It felt strange leaving behind something I had put so much of myself into. But I walked out feeling proud. I had learned how to manage real responsibility, support people through some incredibly life-changing processes, and be part of a mission I believe in. I’ll always be grateful for that. Thank you Project Rousseau! I hope to do more work like this in the future.
All of the interns taking our picture in our favorite cubicle!
Acknowledgements
I want to thank everyone in the office at Project Rousseau for their support and leadership throughout my internship. To Beth—thank you for extending this opportunity to me and allowing me to take part in work I’ve long dreamed of doing. I’m especially grateful for your steady support and kindness at every step!
Thank you to Daniela and Kim for being such thoughtful, encouraging, and genuinely kind intern advisors at Project Rousseau—truly the best internship mentors I could have asked for. And to Andrew, thank you for your incredible guidance, your joyful and informative presence in the office, and for being a role model not only to me, but to all of the other aspiring lawyers in the office.
To the interns I had the pleasure of working alongside—Corinne, Madi, Gersely, Marwa, Leon, Sophia, Briana, Gil, and Rosa—thank you for your friendship, encouragement, and energy. You made coming into the office something I looked forward to every day, and you made my time at Project Rousseau unforgettable.
Finally, my deepest thanks to Tania, my ProCES supervisor. Your support throughout this internship—and beyond—has meant so much to me. Thank you for always being there, for cheering me on, and for being such a thoughtful and generous mentor.
With love,
Skyé
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