Spring 2004

Students use internship experiences to explore curiosities and passions. Years later they reciprocate.

by Mary LeClair

Georgia Jones ’04 met Leo O’Neill ’62 during the summer following her first year at Hobart and William Smith. Working on the Quad during Reunion, Jones, who was born in Jamaica and now lives in Brooklyn, chatted with the president of Standard & Poor’s (S&P). O’Neill then handed Jones his business card and told her to call if she ever wanted an internship or a summer job.

Six months later, Jones took him up on his offer during winter break. For the past three years, the English and studio art major has worked each winter and summer break at S&P, most recently in its London office. And O’Neill has been her mentor ever since.

“Helping HWS students is a way of saying thank you to the Colleges,” says O’Neill.

This unwritten arrangement within the HWS community has grown over the years.

Whether paid or unpaid, major-related or not, internships help students narrow their career search while they gain work experience at some impressive locations, including law offices, research labs, publishing companies and more.

Finding Your Calling

Students like Jones have found internships to be a critical factor in their educational journey of self discovery as they explore curiosities and passions. While working at the Philadelphia Zoo as an education ambassador, Caroline Gibian ’05 gave talks and tours. In the reptile exercise yard, she offered visitors snake skins and tortoise shells to touch, and answered questions from children and their parents.
The environmental science major and education minor says she enjoyed the experience but found she enjoyed many aspects of a prior camp counseling job even more.

“I want to work with children in a science-related way,” Gibian says, “like working through a program that brings science to the classroom.”
Likewise, Taylor Coe ’04 figured out government work wasn’t for him after a stint in the Washington, D.C., office of New Hampshire Sen. Judd Gregg.

“I am so grateful for my experience in D.C. It showed me what I didn’t want to do, which is just as valuable as saying this is what I want to do,” says Coe. He is now exploring the entertainment industry and has landed an internship with NBC Enterprises in Burbank, Calif., this spring.

Writing and rhetoric major Tim Martin ’04 landed an internship with the Department of Homeland Security after finding out about the post from his mentor at Harvard Business School Publishing, where he previously worked. President of the Delta Chi fraternity and Hobart rugby team captain, Martin was selected as one of nine interns to work in the Boston office.

He says the internship has taught him respect for the hard work and dedication of those in the field, and also the value of networking. Martin is considering work as a federal agent, as well as a career in corporate real estate or sales and marketing.

For others it’s just a matter of fine tuning. After working for the Human Rights Education Program in Karachi, Pakistan, advancing women in education and in the workplace, Tanya Khokhar ’06 is certain of her aspirations. “I want to work at the United Nations as a foreign agent and represent my country on human rights,” she says.

Khokhar was inspired by those she came in contact with during the internship in her homeland. “I met so many people who are trying to change things. I want to be one of them,” she declares.

Genny Finkel ’06 worked in New York City as a production assistant for the casting department of the reality television show “Blind Date.” Finkel recruited contestants on the streets of Manhattan and interviewed candidates.

“I learned so much about myself that I didn’t know before,” she admits. “I learned I didn’t want to work for a reality TV show, but that I would like to be a producer and work in news or documentaries.”
Political science major Lauren Ulvestad ’04 worked for Goldenberg Law Firm in Minneapolis, Minn., on cases involving Somalian, Guatemalan and Peruvian immigrants who were trying to gain citizenship. “I knew I liked law but didn’t know which area. I am really intrigued now by immigration law, and I enjoyed the personal interaction with clients,” she says.

“I think I benefited most by experiencing the daily grind. I was able to prove to myself that this was a good fit for me.”

For still others, internships merely confirm what students have suspected all along. Who would think cataloguing 175 Japanese woodblock prints could solidify someone’s career? For Rebecca Merritt ’06, who landed an internship seat at the Rochester Memorial Art Gallery, it did. Her interest in curatorial work, as well as her selection for the ASIA Network Freeman Student Faculty Fellows Program to study in Japan, made her an ideal candidate for the position.
“I learned that this is definitely a career path I’d like to try. The internship solidified it,” Merritt says.

Logging the Assist

With assistance from Biology Professor Tom Glover, Gregory Sand ’05 was able to land an internship at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C. Sand worked under Dr. David Rizzieri ’87, drafting the abstract for a four-year study on several cancer drugs.

“Before the internship I would say I had a preclinical interest in wanting to test drugs. I am more focused in on cancer after working at Duke,” says Sand. His next step is to find a post working with patients.
Alumnus Rizzieri says that while he was at HWS, the one-on-one interaction and support from professors, particularly Professors Glover, Val Kish and Jim Spates, opened up opportunities for him that he had not previously considered.

“They offered me new perspectives to consider and alternative ways of thinking,” he says. “These interactions were the single most important determinant of my success, outside of my own efforts. I wanted to give a little of that same attention and exposure to young, motivated students and show them how those skills are essential within the field of medicine.”

As with Rizzieri, there is typically a faculty member or two involved in offering connections and lending support and reference. Last summer, Rhodes Scholar Julia James ’04 worked at Merck Research Labs in Rahway, N.J., as a result of being selected as one of 15 Merck Undergraduate Fellows and thanks to a recommendation from her mentor, Professor Carol Parish.

“Internships are complementary to and an important part of a science students’ education,” says Parish. “They give exposure to outside research. My job as a faculty member is to help students achieve their goals, and this includes helping them obtain research experiences both in HWS research laboratories and external laboratories.”
Geoscience Professor Leah Joseph agrees. That’s why she offered guidance to Caterina Caiazza ’05, who flew off to Houston to work at NASA’s Johnson Space Center as part of the Lunar and Planetary Science Institute’s Summer Internships.

“It was a great opportunity to work one-on-one with a scientist and to learn what it is they do. It also gave me the opportunity to write an abstract to be published, and present this research to a scientific audience,” Caiazza says.

With letters of recommendation from Professors Jim Ryan and Brian Shelley, David Costello ’04 landed a research seat at Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, N.Y., working in the lab that is developing a vaccine for childhood cancer. Since then, the biology major with a dual minor in environmental studies and religious studies has discovered the environmental field will likely be his calling.

“I want to do research but not spend every day in a lab,” says Costello. He plans to go to graduate school for aquatic ecology and possibly work for the Environmental Protection Agency. Currently, he is working on an honors project with Professor Ryan studying environmental estrogens in drinking water.

Other internships spring from an ever-enlarging, intricate web of connections. For Lindsay Teague ’04, help came through HWS parent connections. Teague landed an internship with the director of new media at Random House Inc. in New York City after being told of the position by the parent of an HWS classmate. She was one of 21 students selected from more than 350 applicants.

After eight weeks of assisting in a publicity department creating Web pages, compiling press kits and researching authors, Teague would like to give teaching a try or maybe something in television.

At the recommendation of William Smith Dean Amy Teel, Lauren Buchmann ’04 spent 10 months with AmeriCorps, traveling across the country working for a nature conservatory and Habitat for Humanity, and with youth organizations. The experience resulted in an offer to return to the national headquarters of the Corporation for National and Community Service, organizing the 10th anniversary of AmeriCorps.

The Alum Connection

Over the years, HWS Board Chairman Charles H. Salisbury ’63, P’94 has offered service to the Colleges in tremendous ways, most recently evidenced by providing the lead gift for the renovation of Trinity Hall and the creation of the Salisbury Center which has centralized career advising, internships, fellowships, service-learning, off-campus study, international education, pre-health guidance and more.

But Salisbury’s service also includes many smaller, unnoticed acts, such as a contact he provided for Stacy Clark ’04 that led to an internship at WYPR-FM, the local NPR affiliate in Baltimore, as well as his ongoing efforts to encourage fellow alums to do likewise.
“Much of the time, enabling a successful outcome for the students of Hobart and William Smith is all about initiating a connection,” says Salisbury. “The students prove themselves in the workforce around the globe. They just need assistance in making the initial connection. I’ve received many gracious responses from alums willing to provide that connection.”

HWS alumni and alumnae have a way of initiating connections that come full circle. For example, many students who participate in unpaid internships receive stipends through the Bowman Award for Leadership and Civic Engagement, established by Harry Bowman ’65. The fund was initiated to assist students who are interested in internship placements but who can’t afford to work without pay, or who incur travel or living expenses.

One such student is Lisa DeLucia ’04, who, through HWS career services and a grant from the Bowman Award, was able to work as a researcher at Golisano Children’s Hospital at Strong in Rochester, N.Y. Under the mentorship of Dr. Susan Hyman, DeLucia completed research on diet and children with autism. The results were presented at an international conference in Brisbane, Australia.

Through this contact, DeLucia also was able to shadow other doctors and discover a specialty. “I knew I was leaning toward medicine, but when I shadowed a pediatric dentist, I was hooked. In just eight weeks I gained experience, applied what I had learned in class and, most importantly, made connections and found a role model,” says DeLucia.

Simply Priceless

“The need for internships and making connections is becoming more and more necessary as the job market tightens,” says Brandi Ferrara, interim director of career services. “We are working with students at earlier stages in their academic experience to help ensure the success of our graduates.”

“Many times an internship experience redirects a student’s career aspirations and alters their academic program. By supplementing classroom education with internships, students are better able to steer through the maze of options they face,” she says.

Even students who plan to further their education benefit from internships. Glover, the HWS professor who initiated the Colleges’ long-standing internship connection with the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station, says work experience has become a necessity for those who plan to attend graduate or medical school.

Young alumna Nicole DeSario ’00 proves his point. She is convinced that her internship with the U.S. Supreme Court helped her to be the first William Smith graduate admitted to Harvard Law School as well as her recent selection for a prestigious Skadden Fellowship.

“Not every law school applicant can say they’ve met all of the Supreme Court justices in person and that they know how the Supreme Court runs from a behind-the-scenes perspective,” DeSario says.

Karl Brautigam’04 has taken such advice to heart. He is such a strong advocate for internships that he has held six such positions. He has had two internships at Yale University Press, two at Smith Barney in its New York City and Geneva offices, one with A.T. Clayton, Inc. in Greenwich, Conn., and he currently works with the Geneva Historical Society.

“I have learned about the demands of the real world. Now I know I can meet the responsibility and expectations that the workplace has in store for me,” Brautigam says.

Perhaps Carolyn Lluberes ’04, who worked as a theatrical and commercials assistant for Don Buchwald & Associates in New York City, sums it up best. When asked about the value of her internship, she adapts the text she learned by heart sitting through several tapings of a MasterCard commercial: “The paper you print your resume on, $1. The subway ride to the internship, $2. Finding out what you want to do in life, priceless.”