Since 2000, over 30 students have participated in the SALDEF internship program. Interns work at SALDEF’s national office in Washington, DC or remotely to gain first-hand experience and knowledge about SALDEF’s programs and campaigns to empower the Sikh American community. We are pleased to welcome this summer’s intern class. Dilroop Kaur – Legislative Intern 
Dilroop is an aspiring attorney entering her third year at George Mason University studying Government and International Politics with a focus in Legal Studies. A DC Area native, Dilroop is involved in various community projects including Sikh Gurmat camps and Gurdwara activities. Over the summer, she will be engaged in lobbying efforts, letter writing, and community outreach. During the first few weeks of her internship, she has researched and lobbied for an important piece of legislation affecting Sikh Americans called the Workplace Religious Freedom Act (WRFA), assisted community members who were denied Driver’s license photographs based on head-wear restrictions, and created presentation materials regarding racial profiling. 
Jasleen Kaur – Communications Intern Jasleen is an energetic second year student at the University of California, Berkeley majoring in Anthropology and English. Her passion for creating awareness about Sikhs has led her to Washington DC this summer to become SALDEF’s Communications Intern. She has been busy monitoring misrepresentations of Sikhs in the new forms of social media, blogging about various experiences in D.C., and assisting with the drafting of Press Releases, and participating in a series of meetings for the organization. Harmanas Singh – Technology and Media Intern 
Harmanas, entering his second year at the University of Washington, is helping develop SALDEF’s online presence. He’s not afraid to get knee-deep in code if it means building something lasting and useful for the community. His summer duties involve maintaining the website, refining the online Resource Center, and developing tools which will fuel SALDEF efforts to: monitor online perceptions of Sikhs, reach out at a grass roots level to local communities and leverage new forms of social media. Harmanas is 18 years-old and refers to himself as a “beta” referring to both the Punjabi and English meaning, the former meaning a “young-one” and a the latter meaning “a work-in-progress.” In his free time he enjoys running and working out at the gym. Geetika Kaur – Graduate Researcher Geetika is a third year law student at Osgoode Hall Law School (Toronto, Canada) with an interest in immigration and refugee law. Throughout the summer, she is working on a qualitative research project with recent Sikh American immigrants in the Bay Area of California, focusing on civil rights issues. Some of her work on the project includes: designing interview questions, interviewing members of the community and analyzing collected data. If you are interested in applying for a Fall 2010 internship click here.
