This year, 2019, Scots’ Charitable Society took on their first summer intern, Olivia Conroy-Smith, to work full-time over an eight-week period. Olivia is originally from the outskirts of London with family in both Scotland and Ireland however, for the last four years Olivia has lived in Edinburgh, Scotland whilst studying Geography and Social and Economic History at the University of Edinburgh. She is currently 21 years of age and will be going into her fourth and final year of university in September, 2019. This summer she is a Saltire Scholar Intern, which is a Scottish program run by Entrepreneurial Scotland. Below Olivia shares her experience with being SCS’ Summer Intern:

“Hello! I’m Olivia Conroy-Smith, but most people know me as Liv, and I am writing this blog whilst I bask in the sun alongside the Charles River in Boston. I have just finished my fourth week as a working Massachusettsan and rewarded myself with a relax by the esplanade as I walk home from work. If you told me six months ago that I would be living and working in the East Coast of America for two months over the summer I would have laughed it off whilst dreaming of the possibility …. Alas, here I am in the heart of Boston, on the East Coast of America, lucky enough to be one of the fortunate Saltire Scholars of 2019. 

Entrepreneurial Scotland is a Scottish program which combines a group of young talent with worldwide opportunities with the hope of inspiring and developing the next generation of working Scots to create the most entrepreneurial society in the world. After a lengthy application and interview process I was very lucky to be offered a summer placement with Scots’ Charitable Society. I arrived here in late June and will be leaving in the middle of August so a relatively short but very sweet trip in Boston.

My role this summer is to help expand the organisation’s economic revenues, design fundraising programs as well as further develop the online platforms of the charity. Within my first few weeks I learnt more about the Society and their work, attended the annual Scholarship Award Evening, guest-spoke at their quarterly board meeting as well met with different team members to consolidate ideas about the future of the charity – I think its fair to say it has been a very busy and exciting few weeks!

I am currently focusing on widening the Society’s outreach to people in the Greater Boston area with a hope of continuing and building upon the work that SCS do. It is my hope that SCS can become even more engaging and interactive with the Scottish-American community via more events, greater online presence and expansive collaborations. This past weekend I attended the Glasgow Land Highland Games in Northampton where I focused on getting to know other societies and clans that SCS may become connected to within the future.

I feel privileged to be contributing to the longest-standing charitable organisation in the Western Hemisphere and to make things even more exciting I am the first woman to work for Scots’ Charitable Society too – I feel like I am making history by being here and that is all thanks to SCS! My hope is that I can make a significant impact on the society whilst in Boston as well as learning from the wonderfully intelligent people around me.

From day 1 I have felt truly grateful and unbelievably excited for this opportunity and the experience has already surpassed all my expectations for the summer- I can only imagine what the next few weeks will have in store!

I will make sure to keep you all updated but for now it is see you later!

Thanks for reading,

Olivia”