Arts, entertainment and sports
Brooklyn Conservatory of Music
New Orleans Musicians Assistance Foundation
New York Theatre Workshop
The Weinstein Company
4th Row Films
Maine Film Center
Global Premier Soccer
A total of 340 rising seniors – three-quarters of the Class of 2015 – interned all over the world during the summer of 2014 through Connecticut College's distinctive career and professional development program.
Of those completing internships, 87 percent took advantage of the College's offer of up to $3,000 for a career-related internship or research experience between their junior and senior years; the rest of the students were paid in excess of $3,000 by their employers.
The College's four-year program combines one-on-one advising and practical workshops with assistance in planning coursework and co-curricular activities to help students create an integrated experience that bridges naturally to a successful career.
Meet some of the 340 interns from the Class of 2015:
Internship: U.S. Embassy in Lima, economic section intern
Lima, Peru
International relations major, dance minor
Scholar in the College’s Toor Cummings Center for International Studies and the Liberal Arts
I was assisting the Foreign Service Officers (FSOs), office management specialist and locally-employed staff with conducting research for and drafting reports, presentations and briefings on a variety of issues, including money laundering, climate change, pollution, economic reform, bilateral and international trade and illegal mining.
I worked closely with the FSOs to help them with everything from finding information about an American company in Peru to drafting reports. My favorite moment of my internship was seeing my name on a completed report that went to Washington.
Going into the internship, I was nervous because I’m an international relations major, rather than an economics major. However, because of the interdisciplinary nature of the IR major at Conn, I had taken several econ courses. These courses, combined with the research and writing skills I have learned at Conn, prepared me for the work I was doing in Peru.
I now have a much clearer picture of the reality of working for the federal government. Many times in classes I have made assumptions about how the State Department operates and about how the U.S. makes foreign policy decisions. Although I still have a lot to learn, I have a much better idea of how information is shared within the government to help policy makers do their jobs more effectively.
Internship: Aerodyne Research Company, thermodynamic group
Billerica, Mass.
American Chemical Society certified biochemistry major
Member of the pre-health club
Aerodyne is a company that produces research and development services and advanced instrument software products for industrial, academic and government customers addressing national and international environmental, energy and defense challenges. I got involved with the company through David Lewis, a retired professor of physical chemistry at the College who also works at the company.
Working in the thermodynamic group at Aerodyne, I have been involved in multiple government-contracted research projects sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and NASA. The projects range from pyrolysis of classified coating resins and biomasses to testing efficiency improvements of LED-assisted ignition engines.
I’ve really been able to develop my hands-on problem skills while working on these projects. Those skills are necessary for a career in a scientific field and they will serve me well as I pursue a medical career as a physician.
Internship: Marie Claire, associate fashion market editor intern
New York, N.Y.
Sociology major, Hispanic studies minor
Contributor to theLook, Connecticut College’s student-run fashion magazine
Being a sociology major in the fashion department is rare, as most interns have fashion-specific majors. But my liberal arts education set me apart because I am trained to pay attention to detail and think analytically. Most importantly, Conn has allowed my creativity to thrive, and that is really the heart of fashion editorial.
The fashion market editors meet with designers and PR companies, choose pieces to photograph in studio or on set, then choose from the photos to complete the pages. I assisted my boss in the entire process: I attended previews of upcoming collections, requested specific pieces from designers and brought them to the studio to be photographed. It was amazing to see the issues come out that I helped with; I could look at the pages and see some of the items I requested from designers.
I got to work the set of the October cover shoot featuring Ariana Grande. I was exposed to the whole cover shoot process from start to finish and worked with some of the biggest names in the industry.
My dream is to be a market director of the fashion department at a major fashion magazine. I’ve learned so much about how magazines operate, and my experience is invaluable in pursuing an editorial career. My adviser Ron Flores once told me that in a job interview – no matter what the industry – what will set me apart from other candidates is that I can speak intelligently about anything, such as the social factors that affected immigration in the 20th century. It is important to know the specifics of the industry, but it is equally important to have a well-rounded education.
Internship: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, public relations intern
Boston, Mass.
English major, music minor
Member of: English and music student advisory boards, orchestra, new music ensemble and student newspaper, The Voice
I loved working at a museum I have loved all my life. It was a really great way to get a behind-the-scenes look at what goes into running such a place; it takes a lot more than one would think! I worked on publicity for exhibitions – drafting press releases, writing pitches to get reporters interested in writing about or covering exhibitions and assisting reporters on site.
I did a lot of work attracting publicity for the exhibition of works by artist Jamie Wyeth. I got to meet and work with him during interviews and the opening press event. It was great to have access to a working artist of Wyeth’s talent and pedigree.
The internship required me to be knowledgeable about a lot of things, including writing, history and art, so the interdisciplinary nature of Conn’s academics served me well. Also, all of the one-on-one interactions I’ve had with professors were good practice for making strong connections with members of the media.
Press releases are more journalistic and sparse than most of what I write in the classroom. I had to learn to write in this very different style, and that will help me be more clear in my essays and creative writing.
Internship: John Hancock, Investment Management Services Div.
Boston, Mass.
Economics major, sociology minor
Econometrics. It was the first time I really got to see the real world and practical application of economics through research and analysis.
I was working with the Manager Research team, creating new models to look at different quantitative and qualitative risk factors, creating and sending reports to the investment department and attending different meetings with portfolio managers, analysts and members of other departments.
Connecticut College has prepared me to look at things from different perspectives. At John Hancock, I was looking at various situations from the viewpoints of a portfolio manager, as well as an analyst. Then I was meeting with people from all different departments and people who serve in varying roles within the industry, and understanding their perspectives and how to deal with and interpret the different scenarios. Being able to see and apply multiple perspectives really helped me accomplish my projects and better understand the entire industry.
I’d like to stay in the finance industry. Ideally, I’d like to do a rotational program for a year or two to decide which department I enjoy most.
Internship: Art Start, research and teaching assistant
New York, N. Y.
Art history and sociology double major
Scholar in the College’s Holleran Center for Community Action and Public Policy
Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow
Art Start is a nonprofit that seeks to improve the lives of at-risk youth through art and music. In addition to assisting with a night program in a homeless shelter for children ages 6 through 10, I analyzed the methods used to represent the homeless community of New York City in the recent Family Portrait Project, a community photography project designed to help people think differently about homeless families.
The children I met through Art Start were the most courageous and inspiring group of people. I was responsible for helping the children find and use their voice through art, but in many ways the children helped me do the same. This internship gave me the courage to step back into my own artistic process as a photographer.
As a researcher, I was looking at the methods Art Start chose to use in the process of visualizing the stories of the families featured in the Family Portrait Project. This research helped me to see how an organization like Art Start is combining art, research and activism and it is serving as the foundation for my in-depth senior research project, through which I will examine visual research methods used to represent and study minority groups. The opportunity to work with an organization that focuses on creating a space for marginalized groups to have a voice will provide a great foundation for my work this year.
Internship: ViaSat, software engineering intern
Carlsbad, Calif.
Computer science major
Computer science tutor, vice chair of the computer science student advisory board
I developed an iOS mobile app for Exede, the wi-fi service on JetBlue and United Airlines, which is owned by the telecommunications company I worked for, ViaSat. The app allows employees on JetBlue or United planes to evaluate Exede’s services and better understand the performance of the network. My main focuses were on streamlining the user experience by making the app easy to navigate, developing network speed tests using video and bandwidth test APIs and constructing a normalized database which will help ViaSat analysts easily understand the data we obtain.
I had never done any iOS programming before this summer, but it was easy to learn the syntax and structure of the programming language thanks to the wonderful professors I’ve had in the Computer Science department. I got to apply the things I learned in my “Data Structures,” “Web Technology & Mobile Computing” and “Database” courses in a professional environment.
This past spring, I finished up my research through the Keck Undergraduate Science Program, through which students complete a year-long research project under the guidance of a faculty member. Spending last summer on campus and continuing my research throughout the year with my adviser, Professor Izmirli, has given me the skills and confidence to approach a project independently. These skills served me well at ViaSat, where I was the principal programmer of this app for the summer.
This summer of intensive programming showed me what it’s like to create a product from start to finish and I am looking forward to taking on future projects in the Computer Science Department with the new tools I have gained through my internship. In the long run, I’d love to be part of a software development company that provides a product that people can use every day – I love seeing what I study and do being used by others.
Internship: Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University
Cambridge, Mass.
International relations and Slavic studies double major
Admission tour guide, residential education and living office assistant and captain of the women’s ultimate team
The Davis Center is a research center that brings together Harvard scholars, Harvard students, vising faculty and center associates whose interests revolve around topics pertaining to Russia, Eastern Europe and Central Asia to collaborate, discuss and create. I worked on a variety of different projects, including researching the feminist movement in Russia and translating entries in the diary of Ivan Ivanovich Tolstoy, who served as Russia’s minister of education at the turn of the 20th century.
I am deeply interested in Russian history, and specifically in the time period from the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th, so I loved having the opportunity to translate the Tolstoy diary and research the main characters of the suffrage movement during the lead-up to the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was awesome to put to use the language skills I’ve gained during my time at Connecticut College and my semester abroad in St. Petersburg, Russia.
My dream is to be a Russian history professor at a liberal arts school like Connecticut College. Through my time at the Davis Center, I’ve become well-versed in the existing literature, scholarship themes and trends and ideas in the field. I now have a better grasp of what to expect as a graduate student and as a professor.