I just read an article in the Wall Street Journal that talks about the newest trend in internships: doing them virtually. Which basically means, you can gain valuable internship experience while never actually leaving your couch. This holds true especially for internships in the fields of communications and marketing and web-based technology, in which much work is done online, especially when it comes to tasks like researching, blogging, and supporting social media campaigns.

The pros? Well, interning virtually means that no longer are potential interns limited by geographical constraints. I mean, not everyone has an aunt in upstate New York who let’s them crash in their spare room for the summer (thanks Aunt Babs!) With virtual internships, you might find yourself interning for a company that’s across the country. Another benefit is that many virtual workers have the flexibility to do their work on their own schedule, which allows even people working full-time to explore other work opportunities by doing an internship off-hours.

Of course, virtual internships do have their downsides, such as not getting to soak in the energy of an office or have valuable face-time with people who could potentially help you get a job once you’re out of college. When I was in college I interned at NBC News in New York because I dreamed of being a hot-shot news producer someday like my fictional idol “Jane” from the movie Broadcast News. Being on the news floor, just a few hundred feet from then-news anchor Tom Brokaw, was incredibly exciting. While the tasks I actually did were forgettable (something about communicating with station affiliates about the news satellite feed), I learned a lot about the culture and vibe of a newsroom, and got to observe people doing much more interesting jobs than I was, therefore expanding my view of what was possible in the field of news. My internship didn’t turn into a job opportunity, mostly because my supervisor retired before I graduated from college and thus my contact was gone. But I know that in many fields, such as magazine and book publishing, there’s almost an expectation that internships will ultimately result in an entry-level job offer down the road.

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Interested in exploring internship opportunities? The site Urban Interns promotes internship opportunities for small businesses in urban areas.

When I worked on the series of Real Deal books for Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul, I was lucky enough to connect with then-teen author Dallas Woodburn. Dallas wrote two fantastic essays for the books I edited, and in the past five years, we’ve stayed in touch as Dallas went on to USC, graduated, and is now in a gap year between undergrad and an MFA program.

Besides the fact that Dallas is a great writer, one of things that’s always blown me away about her is that she’s always working on a zillion really cool projects to benefit children and teens centered around writing and creativity. She self-published her first book, a collection of stories and poems called There’s a Huge Pimple On My Nose at the age of 10, and her second collection of stories, 3 a.m., came out in 2005. She’s also run an annual Holiday Book Drive for the past seven years, speaks about writing to students, and runs her own summer writing camp for youth.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Dallas founded her organization, Write On! For Literacy, with the goal of encouraging kids to discovery joy, confidence, self-expression and connection with others through reading and writing endeavors. As part of Write On!, Dallas has formed Write On! Books, where she plans to publish collections of stories, poetry, and essays written by young people that are exciting, fun, and easy for young audiences to relate to.

Dallas is currently accepting submissions for Write On! Books at her website, so if you’re a writer in elementary, middle, or high school, and want to be considered, submit your best stuff here.

Congratulations on all you do for young people and creative expression, Dallas. You are truly an inspiration to Smart Girls everywhere!

If you love science and want to get hands-on experience in a unique program just for girls, then check out the new Coastal Studies for Girls (CSG). Coastal Studies for Girls is a semester-long program for sophomore girls with an interest in science and leadership. Based in Freeport, Maine, the school is dedicated to girls who have a love for learning and discovery, an adventurous spirit, and a desire to challenge themselves.

Over the course of the 16-week program, students will compliment their studies in history, language, and math with a course called Coastal Marine Ecosystems, which introduces girls to the principles of chemical and physical marine science, marine biology, estuarine ecology, and marine resource issues; and a Leadership Adventure course, where girls have the opportunity to explore, cultivate and reflect upon the habits of effective leadership as well as contemplate their own contributions to the group through time spent ocean kayaking along the coast of Maine, camping, a high ropes course, snow cave building, team challenges, rock climbing and more.

If you’re a sophomore in high school and are interested in applying for the Spring 2010 semester, applications are available now online. Admissions will be made on a rolling basis, although the final deadline for applying is November 15, 2009. Also, scholarships are available. Just get your scholarship application in by November 1st. You can download application forms here.

This week, Seattle is hosting its first Girls Rock! camp, and I had a blast hanging out with the girls yesterday. I presented workshops to the girls on body image, and we examined the ways in which what we see in the media messages we receive each day affects how we feel about ourselves and others.

I was so impressed and inspired by how aware these girls already were of how what we see in commercials, billboards, advertisements and more isn’t really real - it’s manufactured through things like Photoshop, lighting, and armies of stylists, not to mention usually featuring abnormally thin models to begin with. I wish I had been so media savvy when I was a teenager!

If you live in Seattle, don’t miss the Girls Rock! Seattle Showcase, where the girls’ newly formed rock bands will be performing in all their rocker girl glory! The event is at The Vera Project on Saturday, July 25th at 3pm.

Ever seen this image before? If you don’t recognize her, this is cultural icon Rosie the Riveter, who represents the women who took on previously male-dominated jobs during World War II. The woman’s image here is based on a real woman, Rosalie Kunert, who passed away last week at the age of 86.

Rosalie Kunert played an important role in redefining how women were perceived by proving that women could do “men’s work.” According to this obituary, Rosalie was proud of being a pioneer in creating an entirely new image of women in American society and setting the stage for future generations.

In her memory, Smart Girls Know would like to acknowledge Rosalie and all the other “riveters” who were bold, strong, and fearless in going where no women had gone before and who played a crucial role in opening doors and creating more work opportunities for women everywhere.

We’d also like to take this opportunity to highlight a camp created in Rosie the Riveter’s honor, Rosie’s Girls. Rosie’s Girls is a three week camp for girls entering 6th-8th grades that encourages participants to develop and strengthen their capacities and confidence and helps them expand their perception of the range of educational and career options that are attainable in an atmosphere that is fun, supportive and positive.

Camps are located in Vermont, Ohio, South Carolina, and California. To find out more, visit the camp’s website here.

An article in this morning’s New York Times highlights a recent research project which proved what women playwrights have always known: women playwrights have a tougher time getting their work staged and acted than men do.

But the research study also found a few things that surprised everyone, including the fact that it is women artistic directors and literary managers who are often the ones to blame for this reality. Researchers came to this conclusion after sending identical scripts to artistic directors and literary managers around the country. One half of the identical scripts had the name of a man on it as the writer, while the other half had the name of a woman. Overall, the same script with a woman’s name on it received significantly worse ratings than those with a man’s name on it when it was being rated by a woman artistic director/manager. Male artistic directors/managers rated the manuscripts the exact same.

So what’s at the root of this discrimination? There’s no way to know for sure, but the primary researcher, Emily Glassberg Sands, suggests that perhaps artistic directors who are women possess a greater awareness of the barriers female playwrights face, and therefore perceived their plays differently.

To add yet another layer to this surprising data is the fact that female-authored plays on stage during the research period actually made more money than shows written by men, selling 16% more tickets. Yet, better ticket sales didn’t mean that producers kept the shows running any longer than less profitable shows written by men, something that Emily pointed out as clear discrimination.

While I find the results of this study dismal to say the least, the fact that women artistic directors and literary managers so clearly discriminated against women playwrights without considering the merits of the work itself is, to me, the biggest disappointment. When institutionalized gender discrimination is at play, how are women ever going to truly gain equality in career opportunities and pay?

What’s your take on this study?

A new study from the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) found that only 10% of girls thought majoring in computer science was a good idea versus 45% of boys. The study also found boys were more comfortable than girls doing things like learning a new software program, setting up a wireless network or even editing music or video on a computer.

The fact that fewer girls are pursuing careers in math, science, and technology isn’t news, but I still found these statistics surprising. So what is it about girls and computers that makes girls less likely to focus on technology in their learning? Is it lack of interest? Fear over being pegged a “nerd?”

Maybe.

The study found that girls don’t think computers are as “cool” as boys. They think of words like “boring,” “hard,” and “nerd” as being associated with computers, versus words like “design,” “games,” and “video” for boys.

“As long as teenagers believe that computer science is boring, difficult, anti-social, or doesn’t have much impact on solving the world’s problems, they’re unlikely to choose it for their future,” the study says.

The problem here is that more and more careers are going to be technology focused as we move into the future, and these shocking statistics are going to translate into a serious and growing gap in the opportunities women and men have in their careers down the road.

And I have to question whether or not girls really do think computers are boring and hard, or they’re just concerned about the way they are perceived by others, especially boys.

When I interviewed Kelly McCarthy, a female video game designer, for my book In Their Shoes, she explained that she was nervous about majoring in computer science mainly because there were so few women doing it at the time.

What are your thoughts? Do you like learning about technology or avoid it like the plague? Do you label other students who are into technology as computer nerds? And finally, what do you think is the way to get more girls interested in math, science, and technology careers?

A few months ago, I blogged about the cool, inspirational documentary Girls Rock! which chronicled the life-changing experience of girls learning to channel their inner rock star at the camp by the same name.

Well, if you dream of being the next Gwen or Fergie or better yet, Alison Iraheta, or maybe you just want to grow as a person, bond with other cool girls, and learn a thing or two about music and collaboration, it’s not too late to sign up for a Girls’ Rock camp. Here are the details by city:

• Portland (the original camp featured in the documentary) - just added a new summer session
• Seattle: Extended application deadline to June 5th (I’m planning to participate in this camp!)
• Washington, DC: Offering a last-chance camp sign-up this Sunday, May 31st
• Memphis: Deadline for registering for the Delta Girls Rock Camp has been extended to June 1
• Austin: Still accepting applications
• Bay Area: Application deadline for second session is May 29th
• Atlanta: Still accepting applications
• Columbus, OH: Still accepting applications
• Peterborough, Ontario: Still accepting applications

Let me know if you’re planning to participate and want to write about your experiences for Smart Girls Know!

This week, teen social change organization Do Something honored five incredible social change agents as winners as their Do Something Awards. The awards recognize the difference these young people are making in the world, and gives each winner $10,000 to go towards the cause of their choice.

Each of the winners began their social change initiatives as teenagers, proving Do Something’s belief (and that of Smart Girls Know) that teenagers have the power to make a difference. Here is a quick look at the winners…I hope they inspire you the way they have me!

• Marvelyn Brown, age 24: The Marvelous Connections Tour - an activism tour about HIV/AIDS prevention and education. Marvelyn’s tour has resulted in more than 200,000 people getting tested for HIV.
• David Burstein, age 20: 18 in ‘08 - a film and peer-to-peer effort to get 18 year olds to register to vote. This youth-run initiative contributed to the highest registration of 18-22 year old voters in history.
• Maggie Doyne, age 22: Kopila Valley Children’s Home - a children’s home for the most innocent victims of a decade-long civil war in Nepal. Maggie used her life-savings to buy the land and build the home following a graduation trip to Asia.
• Eric Glustrom, age 24: Educate! - a program that empowers the next generation of socially responsible leaders through scholarships, funding, leadership seminars, mentorships and more. Eric was inspired after a trip to film a documentary in Uganda at the age of 17.
• Darius Weems, age 19: Darius Goes West - a documentary Darius made about the realities of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy which has raised more than $1.6 million for research to find a cure.

Congratulations to all the winners! And to find out more, including how you apply for one of Do Something’s weekly $500 seed grants, visit the Do Something website.

As summer approaches, you may be on the hunt for a summer job. And if so, you may find that jobs are harder to come by this year. With the unemployment rate for adults at a 30-year high, many jobs traditionally scooped up by out-of-school teens are now being held by adults. And that’s leaving a whole bunch of teens without the means to make the extra cash they need.

So what are many teens choosing to do? Get creative.

A recent article in USA Today says that more and more teens today are choosing to be entrepreneurs and take charge of their financial reality. From the article:

“Kids are actively considering starting their own businesses,” says Junior Achievement USA President Jack Kosakowski.

“It might be out of necessity, since there aren’t a lot of jobs out there. But they’re also seeing parents and other adults that have been loyal to companies for years … getting laid off, so these kids might be thinking, ‘Hey, I might be better off being my own boss.’ “

When I was writing my book In Their Shoes: Extraordinary Women Describe Their Amazing Careers, I featured a profile of entrepreneur Missy Park, founder of the Title Nine sports apparel catalog and stores for women. Missy had a lot of inspiring words for aspiring entrepreneurs. But what I loved most about what she had to say had to do with fear and failure. Here’s an excerpt from our interview:

Me: Do you think that not being afraid is an important quality for someone who wants to be an entrepreneur?

Missy: I do, actually. A buddy of mind once said, “You know, I’ve seen all kinds of entrepreneurs - some of them are really extroverted, some are really introverted, some are super smart and some aren’t that smart at all, some are really good with people, some aren’t. The only thing I can say that they all have in common is that none of them really care about what other people think.” Yeah, it’s hard to fail, and I don’t like it, but I’m never thinking, Oh, I’ve failed and what do other people think? I’m like, Damn, I wish I hadn’t screwed that up, you know?

Me: Without having someone show you the ropes of starting a company, how did you know that you could make Title 9 work?

Missy: I didn’t. For the first three or four years, I’d resolve that we were going to quit at least once every six months. You know that saying, “Courage is not the absence of fear, but the mastery of it?” There were times when I was nervous and I had a ton of doubts, and that still continues now. But I think that mastering your fear can fuel you to focus on the right things. I think that a lot of girls hate making mistakes, and it just kills me. They’re so worried about making mistakes, it’s like, “Wow, if you don’t make mistakes, how are you going to learn?”

So, what does it take to be a successful entrepreneur? A great idea (or several), confidence (and as Missy says, a healthy dose of fear), a willingness to fail, the ability to think outside the box, and being extremely self-motivated.

Does that describe you? Then maybe being entrepreneur is for you! To find out more about how to be a a successful entrepreneur, check out Junior Achievement or The National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship.