Internships at Penn offer variety

Some students look no further than Penn to find their dream internships.

Several organizations on campus offer students the opportunity to intern over the summer or during the school year.

The Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships offers programs ranging from research on campus to summer humanities internships.

CURF Director Harriet Joseph explained that these summer positions might be more appealing to some students since they can get paid and experience Philadelphia without the stress of school.

“They can live on campus, which is nice. There is loads going on in the summer,” she said, adding that it is cheaper for students to stay around a university campus.

“A summer humanities intern can do something on campus while working closely on something they are interested in and is humanities based,” she added.

Along with these positions, CURF sponsors the Penn Undergraduate Research Mentoring Program, which runs over the summer and across a wide variety of disciplines.

President of the CURF Undergraduate Advisory Board and College senior Anthony Schuller said the opportunities available at Penn encourage students to stay on campus.

“Personally, I think it is much easier to obtain a position in a research field on campus rather than off campus as an undergraduate,” he said.

Schuller added that summer research internships are a good opportunity for students to forge long-term relationships with Penn professors.

Aside from research, students also engage in other internship programs on campus throughout the year.

The Jewish Renaissance Project, for instance, offers a year-long internship program. Through the program —known as the Campus Entrepreneurs Initiative — student interns work to build new relationships between campus groups. According to CEI intern and College sophomore Beryl Sanders, it “show[s] people who had Jewish upbringings that there are ways to get involved outside Hillel.”

Sanders said the convenience and potential for new relationships motivated her to be a CEI intern.

“I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to build those types of relationships if I hadn’t done a Penn internship,” she said.

According to JRP Director of Engagement Emily Perl, students involved in the internship are able to participate in “social, intellectual, political and spiritual initiatives that focus on issues that matter to college-aged students.”

The Kelly Writers House hires two or three interns each summer, some of whom continue their projects into the school year.

“Students are able to create long-term experiences,” said KWH Director Jessica Lowenthal, using the example of a summer intern who created a music blog that has continued past the internship duration.

Lowenthal also mentioned an advantage of staying on campus for an internship is “the immediate and deep connections with the curriculum,” as students are able to see how their course work can relate to the real world.

“Students aren’t just fulfilling tasks, but leading projects themselves,” she said.

College sophomore Emily Roberts, an international relations major, decided to pursue an on-campus internship with the Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program led by professor James McGann.

Roberts said she didn’t look at off-campus options because she wanted to build better relationships with the IR faculty and improve her research skills in preparation for her thesis.

“This is the most exciting part — knowing that our work has real effects on such important outcomes,” she said, adding that the internship has given her a “wonderful mentor.”

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