Author Archives: Sydney Robertson

The Importance of Sustainable Seafood Education with One Fish Foundation by Emma Loller ‘27

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Name: Emma Loller
Class Year: 2027
Major: Environmental Studies
Minor: Italian
 
Internship Organization: One Fish Foundation
Internship Title:   Communications Intern
Location:  Remote
 
What’s happening at your internship? We would love to hear what kind of work you are doing!  

 I started out just creating social media posts for the One Fish instagram about three times a week. As I got farther into the internship I started getting more responsibilities such as creating content for the monthly newsletter. I also fill in spreadsheets and am helping put together the first edition of a newsletter from a partner organization, Slow Fish North America.

Why did you apply for this internship?  

I didn’t technically apply for this internship. In the spring semester, I took a Praxis course with Dr. Talia Young at Haverford, and through this class we were assigned an internship for the semester as part of our coursework. I ended up enjoying the internship so much that I talked to my supervisors about continuing into the summer. They said they would love to continue to work with me, and this allowed them to give me more responsibilities.

Was there anything special about how you found this internship?

I found this internship through Dr. Talia Young at Haverford, as she is friends with my supervisor, Colles Stowell. Through my course Fish & Community: A Local Praxis, Dr. Young assigned us to an internship for the spring semester. I was paired with One Fish based on my interests. I enjoyed the internship so much throughout the semester that I continued to work with them in the summer too.

What has been your favorite part of this internship?  

My favorite part has been learning about sustainable seafood. One Fish Foundation offers education about sustainable seafood to schools from elementary to undergraduate. My supervisor, Colles, is the one who does this. Because he is an educator, any time he is explaining a post, I get the full lesson on it. This has been my favorite part, learning about seafood from Colles and through my research for my work.    

What is something you have learned from your internship that you didn’t expect? 

I should have expected this, so I’m not sure why it caught me by surprise, but I’ve loved learning about how a small organization works and how so many small organizations are connected. There is a huge network of organizations that advocate for the ocean and it’s been fascinating to learn about them, their missions, and how they work. 

Working remotely for the first time? What has that experience been like for you? 

This was my first time working remotely and there was definitely a bit of a learning curve. I didn’t do well during COVID when school was online so I expected this to be the same. However, it turned out to be completely fine. My supervisors are usually good about communicating, which was my main concern, so once I realized that wouldn’t be an issue, I was able to have a better time with the internship being remote. 

Can you talk about the skills you learned and why they are important to you? 

The main skill I’ve learned is how to communicate information to a broader audience. A lot of the information I work with might be confusing to a general reader, but it is still important nonetheless, so I need to rewrite it in a communicable way. I think this is very valuable, not just for the contents of my internship, but for all information that needs to be communicated.  

What has been the biggest challenge you have faced at your internship? 

While working remotely has been generally fine, it took time to get used to it, so in the beginning, that was the biggest challenge. My supervisors didn’t always communicate exactly what they wanted from a post, so it was difficult at times to execute their vision. However, at the end of the spring semester I was able to talk to them and ask that they communicate with me more. This helped stop any confusion on my end. 

Can you give us three adjectives and three nouns that describe your internship experience?  

Exciting, busy, educational. 

Teacher, audience, fish.

What is most rewarding about your internship?  

The most rewarding part is getting to see my posts or content for newsletters get to be published to social media. Especially when my supervisors don’t make any edits. It tells me that I did a good job and I was able to communicate what my supervisors asked of me, and that is very rewarding.

Was this internship what you expected it to be? 

It was at first. I expected to have minimal work, just doing a couple social media posts. But as the spring turned into summer I got more and more responsibilities and the internship turned into more than I ever expected it to be. 

Interfaith Youth Education and Organizing with Isabelle Stid ’26

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Name: Isabelle Stid
Class Year: 2026
Major: Religion
Minor: Gender and Sexuality Studies 

Internship Organization:  Interfaith Philadelphia
Internship Title:   Youth Initiatives Intern
Location:  Philadelphia, PA
 
What’s happening at your internship? We would love to hear what kind of work you are doing!  

A student’s “Good Deeds Tree”

This summer, I have had the amazing opportunity to intern at Interfaith Philadelphia, which organizes and facilitates inter-religious dialogue and action across the city. I am the Youth Initiatives Intern and work directly with the director of Youth Initiatives at IP. My main responsibility this summer has been planning and facilitating the Interfaith Youth Neighborhood Mosaic Summer Program. Mosaic is a week-long free program for middle schoolers that helps students foster pride in their own religious and cultural identity, while also forming and promoting community. This year, Interfaith Philadelphia had two Mosaic Programs, one at the Gesu School in North Philly and the other at the Philadelphia Praise Center in South Philly. During the program, students do different art projects, activities, and guest speakers come in to talk about their religious traditions. Most importantly, students complete Interfaith Philadelphia’s “passport to understanding,” which teaches students to Be Curious, Welcome In, Venture Out, Stand Tall, and Stand With. Other than Mosaic, I am also involved in a lot of planning for the upcoming year. I am working on modernizing activity and lesson plans for youth, reaching out to colleges and universities to plan alternative break trips, and helping to plan personalized curriculum for local schools and faith communities.
 
Why did you apply for this internship? 

Interfaith Philadelphia staff outing to the Philadelphia Museum of Art to learn about the Museum’s collections across religious traditions

I first learned about Interfaith Philadelphia because Bryn Mawr partners with them annually for alternative spring break trips. I have gone on two of these trips and absolutely loved learning about religious diversity within Philly. When I learned Interfaith Philadelphia had a summer internship program, I knew I had to apply! I am a religion major and am very involved with Bryn Mawr’s interfaith community, so working at IP seemed like a natural extension of my academic interests and social passions. Moreover, from going on Alternative Break trips, I knew I would love the team and work climate at IP as well.


What has been your favorite part of this internship? 

My favorite part of this internship has been facilitating Mosaic by far. I learned I really love working with kids, and especially while teaching them about religion and interfaith dialogue, which are two subjects I am so passionate about. It was wonderful to see kids come out of their shells, get interested in the material we were learning about, make new friends, and more. A large part of Mosaic is creating a self-portrait throughout the week, and it was amazing to watch students gain confidence in their skills as artists and create pieces that they were proud of. While working with 10+ middle schoolers during the summer can definitely be tiring, I found it to be incredibly worthwhile and so much fun as well.

Can you give us three adjectives and three nouns that describe your internship experience? 

Nouns: Community Diversity Openness  

Adjectives: Fulfilling Educational Impactful

Jessica Silver ’26 Looks Behind the Scenes – View on the International Healthcare System

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Name: Jessica Silver
Class Year: 2026
Major: Neuroscience
Minor: Health Studies
 
Internship Organization:  Health Hub Vienna
Internship Title:   IES Abroad Psychology
Location:  Vienna, Austria
 
What’s happening at your internship? We would love to hear what kind of work you are doing!  

This summer I had the opportunity to intern at Health Hub Vienna. This organization works as a hub for startups, a place to share ideas for products to be integrated into the international healthcare market. As an intern, I was given tasks to research specific products and individuals important to this process, who are part of the up-and-coming startups. Throughout my internship I was also able to network with the founders of these startups, and to hear their pitches describing the initial product details. Overall, there was a great emphasis placed on learning more about the international healthcare system from a broader view, and to know how healthcare products transition from basic ideas to becoming fully integrated into the market.

Why did you apply for this internship? 

I am extremely passionate about the healthcare system, and I want to pursue a career within healthcare in the future. On the other hand, I have always wanted to experience living internationally, however being a current premedical student, I do not have space in my undergraduate years to complete a semester abroad. Spending a summer abroad studying something related to the healthcare system perfectly balanced these two passions, while not taking space from my busy semester schedules. As I researched possible options, the IES Psychology Program in Vienna related the most to my interests, and so I made it happen. I ended up having the most amazing experience during my eight weeks abroad, and I would suggest that everyone pursue something similar during their undergraduate years.

Was there anything special about how you found this internship?  

I found this internship after attending a study abroad informational fair on Bryn Mawr’s campus, and looking specifically for summer opportunities.
 
What has been your favorite part of this internship?  

My favorite part of this internship was the incredible work-life balance present in the Vienna culture, and the ability to travel easily on any given weekend. From the first day of my internship, my colleagues mentioned how after the end of work hours, nobody does work for the remainder of the day. This gave me an opportunity to explore the city after the end of a work day, using the convenient public transportation. Then, on the weekends I would travel with some friends to a nearby city or even country, to spend some time exploring places I had never previously visited.     

What is something you have learned from your internship that you didn’t expect? 

This summer, I learned how to utilize AI technology in a variety of contexts, which was unexpected. The company that I interned with uses AI for all preliminary research, and so I was introduced to a new platform and utilized it for my tasks throughout the summer. While the platform organized all the information in a very easy-to-understand format, it felt strange to use it so casually when completing my tasks. 

Working remotely for the first time? What has that experience been like for you? 

My internship was hybrid, and so generally two days of the week were spent in the office, while the other two were remote. While I enjoyed having the flexible freedom of working where I wanted, personal interaction is very important to me, and so I felt as though the remote days impacted my ability to get to know my coworkers during my internship. 

Can you talk about the skills you learned and why they are important to you? 

This summer, I quickly learned how to be very independent, as I was living in a new place, in a completely new country than I had grown up in. This summer was a big learning experience for me, with a variety of learning curves, most of which were good. Learning how to live fully on my own, without parents or a cafeteria to rely on, combined with planning my own trips and adventures, provided me with an incredible experience this summer. More specifically relating to my internship, I learned how to integrate myself into a new culture, with methods of communication and teamwork different than I am used to in the US. I continued learning every day, and felt as though I ended the summer with a better grasp of a new culture and way of living.  

What has been the biggest challenge you have faced at your internship? 

The biggest challenge I had during my internship was the language barrier that was present. Although most of my colleagues spoke some level of English, they were much better at German, and sometimes reverted to it when in a group setting, leading to me being unable to understand what they were saying in meetings. I handled this challenge by continuing to request translations in English when they were finished, or reminding them that I do not know what is being said. When this was requested, they were very responsive and translated to English so that I could understand everything and be a part of the conversation. 

Can you give us three adjectives and three nouns that describe your internship experience?
 
Adjectives: Informative, spectacular, transformative  

Nouns: Friendship, travel, discovery

What is most rewarding about your internship?  

Although the tasks that I was assigned to complete during my internship were not the most interesting to me personally, it was rewarding to notice how much of a difference they made to the progress being made in my company. This applied most clearly to the preparation being done for the big networking event hosted by my company, for which they used my prepared lists to reach out to healthcare organizations personally, and then prepared a keynote speech. In addition to the work being done in my internship, it was rewarding to have been given the chance to visit so many new places, and explore the world in the two months I was living in Vienna.

Was this internship what you expected it to be?

The internship this summer, and living in Vienna, was a better experience than I ever could have dreamed of. Without a second thought I would pursue a similar experience again in the future, and I would encourage everyone else to experience something of this nature at some point in their lives. 

Laurel Gabbard ’26 Works in the Archives in Santiago, Chile!

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Name: Laurel Gabbard
Class Year: 2026
Majors: History of Art, Spanish
Minor: Museum Studies
 
Internship Organization:  Archivos de la Facultad de Artes en la Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile
Internship Title:   Archives Intern
Location:  Santiago, Chile
 
What’s happening at your internship? We would love to hear what kind of work you are doing!  

Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile

This summer, I have been interning in Santiago, Chile, working in the archives of the School of Arts at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. As an intern working in the theater archives, I have been introduced to a wide array of archival materials, including but not limited to documentary footage, interviews, photos, letters, posters, and theater programs. My main task consisted of transcribing, subtitling, and translating three documentaries that focus on different elements of Chilean theatrical history, all of which, in some capacity, focused on theater as a revolutionary act that can operate as a push against state power and dictatorship. I also transcribed interviews conducted with Alberto Kurapel and Susana Cáceres, Chileans living in exile in Canada during the dictatorship, and who, in their time in Montreal, formed a theater company that produced acts based on their own experiences in political exile. I also had the chance to meet with the subject of one of the documentaries, Jacqueline Roumeau, the founder of an organization that coordinates theater, and more broadly, art opportunities, within prisons as an act of rehabilitation and reintroduction into society after incarceration. My supervisor recently presented the three documentaries that I subtitled at a three-day long event at the Chilean embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and knowing that I contributed to the accessibility and understanding of these visual archives is very exciting!
 
Why did you apply for this internship?  

Digital Humanities Lab

I originally applied for the IES Abroad summer internship program, along with Career and Civic Engagement funding knowing that I wanted the opportunity to live and work in a Spanish-speaking country and get more comfortable with my professional abilities in my second language. As I worked with IES to find an internship placement, I knew I wanted to be in the arts and humanities sector, so when I was presented with the opportunity to interview for a position in the archives of the School of Arts, I knew that would receive the guidance and experience I was looking for!
 

What has been your favorite part of this internship?  

My favorite part of this internship, besides the professional experience I have gained, has been getting to know my coworkers and supervisors, and in doing so, gain insight not only into professional life in Chile, but also being able to learn tons about Chilean culture, history, social issues, and be a part of the day to day office conversations! My coworkers, in addition to other university-age interns at the office all welcomed me with open arms and helped me learn tons about what it is like to be young in Chile, and I feel very lucky to have had this experience of full linguistic and social immersion in addition to my professional experience.   

What is something you have learned from your internship that you didn’t expect? 

Coworkers and I on my last day!

As a history of art major, I came into this internship with a lot of knowledge about art history, but less about theater and performance art as archival materials. I have been able to learn a lot about the way that archives can preserve the history and memory of works of art and performance that are less tangible and more fleeting. In this case, it has to do with the way that the archives at my internship hold onto the memory of Chilean theater, although one can never experience the exact moment of the production in the same way again. The collections of videos, audios, interviews, pamphlets, posters, and other mediums that the theater archives hold has pushed me to reconceptualize my understanding of what forms of art are easily “archivable”. As I prepare to begin my senior thesis this coming year, I have been considering the way that the corporeality and tangibility, or lack thereof, of performance art can be catalogued and remembered, and how our perceptions of history and memory are changed by how we register art as a physical or non-physical item. I did not go into my internship expecting that something that falls into the realm of theater performance could be so related to what I may want to write my thesis on, but I feel lucky to have had this experience and open my mind to a new realm of critical thinking in the field of art history! 

Immersion in Environmental Education at Bosque Santiago with Miya Matsumune ‘26 

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Name: Miya Matsumune
Class Year: 2026
Major: Geology, History
Minor: Environmental Studies
 
Internship Organization:  Bosque Santiago
Internship Title:   Intern
Location:  Santiago, Chile
 
What’s happening at your internship? We would love to hear what kind of work you are doing!  

Bosque Santiago is a center for environmental education within Santiago’s Parque Metropolitano. As an intern, I planned a geology workshop for kids as my personal project, and helped out with other workshops, tours, and events.

Why did you apply for this internship?  

Environmental education is my dream field of work. I love to teach others, invent games and activities, and I am passionate about sustainability and community outreach.
 
What has been your favorite part of this internship?    

Bosque Santiago is operated entirely in Spanish, and I am not a native Spanish speaker. It was difficult to adjust at first, because I wanted to speak professionally with my supervisor and I was worried about coming across as not intelligent or capable because of my limited Spanish abilities. However, as I became more comfortable with everyone, I began to relax and formed strong relationships with my supervisor and co-workers.

Was this internship what you expected it to be?   

I did not expect there to be so much freedom in this internship, however I ended up enjoying how much autonomy I had in the position. I was able to choose my own personal project and work on it at my own pace. Because of this, I was able to improve my proactivity and advocate for myself. 

 

Natalie Schliekelman ’26: Summer of Advocacy with PennEnvironment!

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Name: Natalie Schliekelman
Class Year: 2026
Major: Environmental Studies, Growth and Structure of Cities
Minor: English
 
Internship Organization:  PennEnvironment
Internship Title:   Advocacy Intern
Location:   Philadelphia, PA
 
What’s happening at your internship? We would love to hear what kind of work you are doing!  

PennEnvironment Deputy Director Flora Cardoni and I meeting with Rep. Tim Briggs and constituents (not shown)

I’ve been working with the team at PennEnvironment, an environmental nonprofit that does a variety of work to make Pennsylvania greener, including conservation, clean water, zero waste, and climate change-focused campaigns. Depending on the week, I work with different projects and campaigns, so depending on the day I might be coalition-building with local elected officials and community leaders, doing communications work with projects such as threatened and endangered insects in PA, phonebanking constituents, or writing letters to the editor. I’ve also helped with more administrative (but still interesting!) projects like combing over our media contact list, or updating our legislative social media database. Some highlights include testifying at a PA Department of Environmental Protections hearing in support of stricter methane protections, and running logistics for lobby meetings with six Pennsylvania legislators and 40+ constituents, including Bryn Mawr’s own state representative, Rep. Tim Briggs!

Why did you apply for this internship? 

PennEnvironment affiliates testifying at the DEP methane protections hearing

The Bryn Mawr College Environmental Program is very versatile – there’s so many different paths you could take with it, from environmental science research to environmental advocacy. Internships are a great opportunity to learn more about a specific section of the field and potentially narrow down your focus within the department. I’m very interested in environmental advocacy, and PennEnvironment does really cool advocacy work, so working with them is a great opportunity! They do a wide variety of different environmental campaigns, so I have been able to try out a lot of different projects and see what I like best. As a Growth & Structure of Cities major, I have also been intrigued by seeing how larger-scale political contexts play out on a local/state-level scale in Pennsylvania, from more sustainability-focused cities like Philadelphia to rural towns with fracking as a huge economic sector.
 
Was there anything special about how you found this internship? 

PennEnvironment is a branch of the national environmental group Environment America, which has 30 state branches, including one in my home state of Georgia. Last summer, I did a part-time internship with Environment Georgia. During my time with Environment Georgia, I met with a PennEnvironment staff member to learn more about PennEnvironment’s work with plastic bag bans. My time at Bryn Mawr has taught me the importance of networking, so I followed-up in the spring about interviewing for a summer internship! Environment America offers a lot of resources for its members, such as weekly trainings for the interns, so it’s been a great opportunity to get to work within the Environment America network twice, and PennEnvironment is one of the oldest branches so it’s great to see their work in action. 

What has been your favorite part of this internship?  

I’ve really loved the people aspect! Thanks to my summer funding from Bryn Mawr, I’ve been able to stay in Philly for part of the summer and work in the office. I enjoy getting to chat with my supervisors and other interns while I work, and I feel like I’m able to learn so much more from hearing tidbits and stories from my supervisors about their work. I also find connecting with people through advocacy work to be really rewarding – I found it intimidating at first to cold-call elected officials and constituents, but it’s a great feeling when I convince someone to take political action, like signing a petition or reaching out to their representatives. I’ve had some fascinating conversations and it can really test my knowledge of the policies I’m campaigning for when someone challenges me or asks me specific questions about different bills.

Natasha Ring ’26 Explores Environmental Education in South Philadelphia 

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Name: Natasha Ring
Class Year: 2026
Major: Geology, History
Minor: Environmental Studies
 
Internship Organization:  Discovery Pathways
Internship Title:   Intern
Location:  South Philadelphia, PA
 
What’s happening at your internship? We would love to hear what kind of work you are doing!  

I have gotten to be involved with so many different programs at Discovery Pathways this summer! Early on, while the school year was wrapping up for local K-12 schools, much of my work involved preparing for the start of our Youth Environmental Leaders Program, assisting on field trip visits, and working at the community boating and family fishing events. I also got to watch my first dragon boat race, since the Discovery Pathways team had a regatta in Philadelphia which was really exciting. For the last month, I have primarily been assisting with the Youth Environmental Leaders Program. This program targets BIPOC, immigrant, and refugee youth and gives them opportunities to learn about leadership, public speaking, fishing, boating, water testing, and sustainability. For the leaders, returning students who are now serving as mentors to the new students, the program also aims to assist them with job readiness skills such as practicing interviews and creating a resume. I have also been busy with visits from local rec centers and community groups who visit us at FDR Park where we take them on nature walks, kayaking on Edgewood lake, or fishing. I have also been assisting at the free community boating and free family fishing programs which target the local Southeast Philadelphia community. These programs can serve hundreds of visitors on any given day, and are an excellent opportunity for me to learn more about the local communities and practice my public speaking skills.
 
Why did you apply for this internship? 

My concentration within Environmental Studies is Environmental Education, so I was looking for a summer internship that focused on Environmental Education. I learned about Discovery Pathways last fall after talking to one of my lab partners who had interned there last summer. I loved that Discovery Pathways was local to the area and had a focus on making environmental education accessible to the local community through practices like empowering students to translate instructions at our community boating events and free events.
 
Was there anything special about how you found this internship? 

I initially learned about Discovery Pathways through my lab partner, who had interned there last summer. Some students from Dr. Young’s Fish and Community Praxis Class, which I took this spring, were also placed at Discovery Pathways which gave me another opportunity to connect with Adam and the organization.  

What has been your favorite part of this internship?
 
My favorite part has definitely been working with the teenagers in our Youth Leaders Program, and learning from them. They have taught me so much on topics ranging from rowing and racing a dragon boat to what vendors to go to at the Southeast Asian Market to how I can communicate more clearly on our busy boating days. I have also tried many new foods based on their recommendations, including green papaya salad and lychee. 

Najya Shah ’27: Exploring the Idle

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Name: Nayja Shah
Class Year: 2027
Major: Economics
 
Internship Organization: Paradigm Forum
Internship Title:   Summer Research Intern
Location:  Remote
 
What’s happening at your internship? We would love to hear what kind of work you are doing!  

At Paradigm Forum, I research the increasingly addictive relationship between digital technology and people. This internship was prominently self-motivated. I chose a virtue I found missing in modern society: idleness, and explored why we humans are becoming more uncomfortable with doing nothing. I also began drafting a questionnaire with the hopes to help my peers reflect on their use of technology and why it seems that so many of us are choosing to be busy over being idle. Towards the end of this internship, I am going to create a monograph based on the virtue I researched to encourage people to try doing nothing.

Why did you apply for this internship?

When I first discovered this internship on Handshake, I found it to be the perfect intersection of my work and academic experience. I was seeking a research opportunity that’d allow me to both introspect and have an impact on my community. Having worked as an English tutor, I came to realize that many young people are not properly equipped to critically think because of our increasing use of digital technology. With this realization and my data science coursework, I saw the research opportunity at Paradigm Forum to be an ideal opportunity to dig deeper, for both myself and the kids I work with.  

What was the biggest challenge you have faced at your internship? 

The biggest challenge I experienced at this internship was the fact that it was remote. While to many, including myself, a remote internship is a blessing, I found it difficult initially because of the nature of the internship. Our research required more reflection and thought and I wanted to discuss a lot of what I read with my supervisor and partners, however that was not possible when we were only able to meet once a week via zoom. So early on, I realized that to deal with this mental block I needed to both get better at journaling and communicating via email. I found myself a notebook and would summarize the articles I read or the podcasts I listened to daily. Then whenever I needed guidance, I emailed my supervisor or made mental notes as to what I should ask during the weekly meetings. This has helped me not only improve my communication skills but also has encouraged me to introspect, something I hadn’t done in quite a long time. 

What is something you have learned from your internship that you didn’t expect? 

I learned a lot more about boredom and doing nothing that I could ever expect to know. It is quite ironic, because as an economics major (where almost everything we learn about is tied back into how humans can be more productive) the research I am doing this summer is the complete opposite of everything I’ve been told to prioritize. Now, productivity seems to be an afterthought, and I’ve begun to reflect on how I can best grow and connect with my community. 

Migraines and Me: Akosua Boatemaa Sarpong ‘28

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Name: Akosua Boatemaa Sarpong
Class Year: 2028
Major: Chemistry
 
Internship Organization: Summer Social Science Research at Bryn Mawr College
Internship Title:   Research Assistant
Location: Bryn Mawr, PA
 
What’s happening at your internship? We would love to hear what kind of work you are doing!  

My internship involves researching into vestibular migraines, migraines, dizziness and broadly chronic illness. A typical day involves a mix of searching for articles from a range of databases such as google scholar, PubMed and PubMed Central, ProQuest and Tripod, as well as doing some readings, scouting the internet for blogs and listening to podcasts on the topic.
 
Why did you apply for this internship?  

I applied for this internship because I’ve always been interested in social medicine, oddly enough for a STEM major. It was the perfect internship: a mix of the social construction of migraines and the medicalization of it. It was perfect!

Was there anything special about how you found this internship? 

This was a Bryn Mawr Summer Social Science Research Pilot Program and I think it’s a really great initiative by the school to foster creativity and exploration.

What has been your favorite part of this internship?

 My favorite part of this internship has been learning about contested illnesses such as vestibular migraine as well as the (de)legitimization and the role gender and racial stereotypes play. Getting to put myself in the shoes of the patients and living life through their eyes has also been rewarding. 

What is something you have learned from your internship that you didn’t expect? 

I learnt how to think critically as well as outside the box. Being a STEM major for me meant following a set of already given instructions sometimes without even thinking through it, simply just following directions. However, I learnt how to make inferences, as well as consider multiple perspectives and draw logical conclusions. 

Can you talk about the skills you learned and why they are important to you? 

I’m learning communication skills, teamwork, critical thinking, collaboration, problem solving and adaptability. These are important to me because they’re all skills that are necessary to be able to work effectively, especially as I prepare to enter the work filed one day. 

What has been the biggest challenge you have faced during your internship? 

The biggest challenge I would say I faced was working as a team. Throughout my high school years and first year of college, I typically worked alone and studied alone however for my internship, I had to learn how to coordinate with and discuss ideas and initiatives with my research partner. It was hard in the beginning, being unable to work on my timing at my own pace, having to always confer with a second person before proceeding to do anything. As time went on, I slowly began to get more comfortable with working as a team and I realized I actually enjoyed it! 

Can you give us three adjectives and three nouns that describe your internship experience? 
fun, thought-provoking, exciting 

What is most rewarding about your internship? 
The most rewarding part of my internship is the perspective I’ve gained into social medicine, specifically the social construction of illnesses and how it differs from the medical construction.

Was this internship what you expected it to be? 
Yes. It is was exactly as I expected and more. Everything outlined in the beginning has been achieved and more. 

 

Rana Rastegari ’26 Spends the Summer as an Editorial Intern at Campus Philly

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Name: Rana Rastegari
Class Year: 2026
Major: Literatures in English, Chemistry 

Internship Organization: Campus Philly
Internship Title:   Editorial Intern
Location: Philadelphia, PA
 
What’s happening at your internship? We would love to hear what kind of work you are doing!  

Campus Philly Team

I spent this summer interning with Campus Philly, focusing on editorial work. My main projects consisted of writing regular blogs for the Campus Philly website and keeping the calendar, Guide to Goods and Things to Do pages updated. Over the course of this internship, I wrote multiple blogs about the Greater Philadelphia region focusing on events, activities and information geared towards college students in the area. Throughout the summer, I also led the outreach and organization of the annual Guide to Philly. I was in touch with several organizations and college students in order to finalize the details for the annual guide alongside writing my own feature for Ardmore! Some daily tasks at my internship included maintaining and updating several excel documents containing contact information for all of the Campus Philly partners and ensuring that all of the details were up to date. As a part of my internship, I was able to attend several incredible events! A favorite internship memory from this summer was attending a preview of an exhibit at the Barnes which included a guided tour of the artwork from the curator herself! I had the privilege of writing about the exhibit for the Campus Philly blog and had the opportunity to connect with other reporters.

Why did you apply for this internship?  

As a freshman at Bryn Mawr, I attended Campus Philly’s CollegeFest which was an amazing and formative experience. It truly made me feel much more comfortable about my first few weeks of college. I had also previously written for the Guide to Philly in 2023 and really enjoyed the process! Therefore, being familiar with the Campus Philly mission, I reached out to Ashley Barber (Senior Director of Content Strategy) to ask about an internship! Campus Philly was such a helpful resource for me when I came to college and I was really excited to be a part of that team!     

What is something you have learned from your internship that you didn’t expect? 

This internship has taught me a lot about the importance of data analysis and marketing in every position. For nearly all of my projects, Ashley and I have discussed outreach numbers  and salesforce contacts in depth. Each of my blog posts requires the correct company information and contact details to be included in the piece and the Guide to Philly project relies on us being able to get the word out to as many people as possible. It has been really interesting to see exactly how important these skills are to the company!  

Working remotely for the first time? What has that experience been like for you?  

Working remotely has been an adjustment for me as I am very used to in-person, hand on work especially throughout the semester. However, I have really enjoyed working remotely with Campus Philly as I still felt very connected to other staff members. Outside of the in-person planning day, we met on teams weekly and I also met with Ashley every week separately. As a result, I always felt very supported by the team while simultaneously having the independence to plan out my own working hours and project priorities.