Scarlet Service Stories: Morgan Dunkel
Morgan Dunkel, Garden State Equality
Morgan Dunkel’s resume is filled with jobs that help her community: camp counselor, track coach, election canvasser and “cat volunteer” at an animal shelter.
When she found out about the Scarlet Service internship, the rising junior saw it as an opportunity to gain some in-office experience working for an organization with a cause.
“Before (the internship), I wanted to know how to be a professional and I wanted to know what it’s like to work in an office job,” said Dunkel, 20, a political science and history major at Rutgers-New Brunswick School of Arts and Sciences. “And now, I think what I really want is to know how to actually reach people and how to help people.”
Dunkel has spent the summer interning at Garden State Equality, a statewide LGBTQ+ advocacy organization based in Asbury Park.
She said she has had a chance to work with or learn about every department — communication, community outreach, youth advisory, advocacy and regulation among others. Dunkel, of Montclair, N.J., has written and designed flyers, made deliveries, coordinated clothing drives, staffed an information booth at Pride Month events, and helped in planning activities – all the undertakings that make an organization run.
She participated in staff meetings and provided feedback to the employees for their public presentations.
Additionally, Dunkel was able to see how advocacy plays out in real time. She was in a staff meeting when news broke about a Supreme Court decision to uphold a Tennessee law restricting gender transition care for minors. The meeting was cut short so that Garden State Equality could quickly release a statement and devise a plan of action for the New Jersey community.
Dunkel is considering a career in law after taking a short break from school.
“I would like to spend some time after graduation doing policy work, maybe through a nonprofit,” she said. “I think it's important work and I want to do it for a bit before I go to law school. But eventually, I want to go to law school.”
Dunkel found out about Scarlet Service through friends who had participated in the program.
“I know that a lot of people have a hard time getting an internship in the summer, let alone an internship that's in their niche,” she said. “I think that the guidance along with all the resources and options just made it so easy and enjoyable as a process. I've really like been so glad I did this.”
– Roya Rafei