Summer 2023 Internship Spotlights
Written by: Jaqueline Clark, Student Assistant for Career Development
Over the summer, we contacted students to understand their internship. We are sharing their stories to highlight their experiences and the knowledge they gained from it for you to get inspiration from for your own internship search.
Madison Stokes
Major: English
Year: Sophomore
Internship Site: Pittsburgh Media Project
Pronouns: she/her/hers
What did a typical day at your internship look like?
I would get into the office around 9, and I could cover what I wanted to cover like the Three Rivers Art Festival and the August Wilson Center. I would be out in the community and share different stories. In generaI, I would write the stories, receive edits from my supervisors, and apply the edits.
What was your favorite part of the internship?
One thing that I found through journalism is that I wanted to highlight experiences beyond myself. With the article I wrote about the August Wilson Center, I saw the art and talked with the people about what the art meant to them.
Do you feel that this internship has helped you obtain a better understanding of your future career or job interests?
Yes, I want to be a journalist 100% after seeing and working with the other journalists out in the field. I thought I wanted to do scientific writing, but I liked journalism through this experience.
What advice do you have for someone that does not know what to look for in an internship/site?
If you have a passion like art/writing/ speaking, and try to find something that aligns with that. Also, know that some things have a learning curve. It can take time to get better.
Vania Y. Ramirez Romo
Major: Cellular Molecular Biology
Year: Junior
Internship Site: NeuBase
Pronouns: she/her/hers
What did a typical day at your internship look like?
I get there at 9 am and get coffee/ tea and sit with my supervisor to talk about the plan of the day. Around 11, I prepared my materials for my experiment. Then, at 12 pm, they [the researchers] would get lunch, and two days a week lunch was provided by the company. I would spend the rest of the day journaling about what I accomplished before leaving.
What was your favorite part of the internship?
My favorite part was working in the lab because I have done similar things for my independent study at Chatham. Being able to talk to my co-workers normally was nice too, and journal presentations where we read and analyzed scientific articles was helpful for future classes I will take. Reading them in classes versus the lab was different because in class we saw how things are, but in the lab I learned what needed to be improved.
Do you feel that this internship has helped you obtain a better understanding of your future career or job interests?
I was able to talk with a lot of co-workers, and I saw that everyone didn’t have an PhD that I thought they would have. Originally, I wanted to go to medical school, but they helped me with my options and interest in research.
What advice do you have for someone that does not know what to look for in an internship/site?
You should look at the work environment (ie. is it warm and inviting), and find something that you truly enjoy. With the people I was with in the lab, they made it seem less like a 9-5, and more like ‘Oh, I am just going to the lab and having fun.’
Marisa Ostrosky
Major: Environmental Science
Year: Senior
Internship Site: Humane Animal Rescue of Pittsburgh
Pronouns: she/her/hers
What did a typical day at your internship look like?
I would get assigned a cleaning area for morning feedings. There are scheduled meetings every day, which could mean at least 5x a day for some animals. For example, it can take every few minutes to hours to feed rabbits, possums, and birds.
What was your favorite part of the internship?
My favorite part of the internship was coming into contact with so many animals and the chance to see medical procedures and exams the staff would perform. For example, I saw the medicine and had the chance to calculate the dosage for mammals or fluids for birds.
Do you feel that this internship has helped you obtain a better understanding of your future career or job interests?
Definitely. I was very hands on with the animals and learned the rules within the species’ ecosystems. Also, I could explore multiple fields like animal care, veterinary care with medicine, animal conservation, and wildlife biology.
What advice do you have for someone that does not know what to look for in an internship/site?
On LinkedIn and Handshake, look at the job descriptions and filter it down to your specific field and apply to many. If you get an interview with a job site, look into their mission statement and see if it reflects you and see which company you liked talking with the most.