Eleven undergraduate students traveled to New York City for a career immersion trip with Colgate Women in Business (CWiB) and Colgate Career Services, spending Friday, February 15 conducting site visits and learning from alumnae.

The students visited four companies and seven alumnae: Parity Partners (Sarah Kim ’87, New York Steering Committee member, Women’s Association of Venture & Equity), PricewaterhouseCoopers (Susie Becker Gould ’03, human capital director; Caroline Brainerd ’14, senior associate; Jackie Millstein ’12, manager), Havas Health and You (Sarah Burke Mullins ’96, senior manager, Sanofi), and Lerer Hippeau (Stephanie Manning ’13, director of platform; Natalie Sportelli ’15, content and brand manager).

These companies opened their doors to students so they could learn more about private equity, management consulting, health and wellness marketing, and venture capital. The students and alumnae met in conference rooms and the small group of eleven allowed for every student to ask questions and engage in conversation.

“I think our immersion trip to NYC was really impactful for everyone who participated. We made sure to focus not only on career advancement, but we learned from leading alumnae about overcoming gender barriers in the workplace. The combination of both of these aspects made the trip different from past years and a huge success,” president Anna Rummel ’19 said.

“It was great to host Colgate Women in Business at the Lerer Hippeau office. Our discussion really dug into what the future of work is going to look like,” said Natalie Sportelli ’15. “Many jobs, like Stephanie’s and mine, didn’t exist a couple years ago, and there are exciting new roles and industries emerging all the time. In talking with CWiB members, and taking their excellent questions, it became clear that these students are taking steps now to set themselves up for success later.”

In the past, the group previously partnered with the finance, marketing, and consulting clubs for immersion trips. Since this trip only included CWiB members, a concerted effort was made to include conversations around gender and the workplace.

Colgate Women in Business educates undergrads about the business world and women’s issues in the workplace and offers programming and networking opportunities to learn from Colgate alumnae.

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At Fleunty, which is a company that builds chatbots and other AI related platforms, I improved and added features to the chatbot analytics program using Python. I was also introduced to Natural Language Processing and was able to gain a lot of insight through collaborating and learning from my supervisors and other engineers.

At Trippie, I was given the task to build the Android version of the app. For six weeks I was able to finish 2/3 of the features. I was responsible for planning the project outline and development in a fast, test-driven environment.

I’ve learned that I do want to study more after getting two or three years of work experience after Colgate. More specifically, my experience at Fluenty spiked my interest to learn more about AI and machine learning.

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I volunteered for three organizations this summer: The World Bird Sanctuary (WBS), The Wildlife Rescue Center (WRC), and Five Acres Animal Shelter (FAAS). WBS is an organization strongly devoted to educating the public about wildlife conservation, environmental protection, and different species of wildlife. They also participate in field research by collecting bird banding data and running a breeding program that aims to increase the numbers of bird species that have nearly gone extinct in Missouri. While I was there, I helped to prepare food for the education animals, which included several species of birds, snakes, tarantulas, turtles, and an armadillo, and kept daily records of their consumption. This work often involved skinning and gutting a variety of small mammals and the occasional deer leg, which was a really great anatomy lesson. I was also trained in handling small falcons and a variety of owls, and helped to train an American Crow and an American Barn Owl to perform certain tasks that would be shown to sanctuary guests in educational programs and shows.

The WRC is another organization devoted to educating the public about wildlife and the environment, and they mainly do so through summer camps for children. They are also very involved in the rescue, rehabilitation, and release of native Missouri Wildlife. Many people will call them if they spot injured or orphaned animals, and the WRC will do what they can to nurse them back to health before re-releasing them into the wild. While I was there, I was trained to care for a variety of animals including turtles, mallard ducks and ducklings, geese and goslings, squirrels, and opossums and joeys. I learned how to prepare food for each group of animals, how to clean and prepare their cages (as the animals got older, their cages were upgraded to be more reflective of their natural environments, called pre-release caging), and how to prevent/treat specific diseases associated with certain species. I learned to tube-feed many of the joeys, whizz them, and carefully document their feedings, weight, and progress to determine their health status and how close they were to being safely released. I was also able to assist in the release of two Cottontail Rabbits.

The last organization that I volunteered for this summer was FAAS. This was the only no-kill shelter in the St. Charles/Saint Louis area. They were an incredibly passionate group of people that really wanted the best for their dogs and cats. They hosted many fundraising and adoption events in association with local companies to introduce the shelter and some of its dogs to the public, as well as seeking to spread information about responsible pet ownership. I was able to participate in some of these events, such as ScottTrade Puppy Cuddling, which brought out a few puppies to give workers a break during the middle of the day. The employees would donate to the shelter in order to cuddle with one of the puppies, offering great stress relief to them, and great socialization and exposure for the puppies. While I was at FAAS I mainly volunteered with the dogs, so I also assisted with walking and exercising them. This gave me a chance to handle dogs of all different breeds, shapes, and sizes, and provided valuable experience in regard to working with unfamiliar animals. Cleaning kennels, playing with the dogs, and doing simple things like feeding, laundry, and folding newspapers for the kennels of the sicker animals were all things that needed to be done. These things taught me that there is a lot more that goes into maintaining an animal care organization than one might think, and that every little bit that someone can contribute really does help.

These summer experiences made me realize that I am very willing to put in the long hours and hard work necessary to become a veterinarian. I have become even more passionate about the industry and the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of all types of animals. I also learned that I have a knack for noticing small details and a great capacity and affinity for learning new and important things about each animal that I encounter. These experiences have made me more certain of my goals.

If other students were looking into the veterinary field as I am, I would strongly encourage them to apply for an internship at the Wildlife Rescue Center or the World Bird Sanctuary. These organizations allowed me to learn about the intricacies, details, and dedication necessary to the proper care of different types of animals. They provided me with great hands-on experience that I can incorporate into my skill set as an applicant to veterinary school. These experiences will help you stand out.

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This summer I worked 10 weeks for RREAF Holdings, a commercial real estate company based out of Dallas, Texas. As an intern, I had a variety of tasks that ranged from pitching prospective properties to the acquisitions team to doing grunt work, such as copying documents.

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I first became interested in the Carter Center after reading about Rosalynn Carter’s mental health initiative while researching the reduction of stigma pertaining to mental illness. An internship with the Democracy program at the Carter Center gave me the unique chance to combine my interests in policy, disability rights, and international standards. My internship focused on examining the gaps in international law pertaining to persons with disabilities, and how elections can be made more accessible so that persons with disabilities can gain representation in society. My tasks included writing policy briefings, updating online resources for persons with disabilities, and translating documents into French. One of the most rewarding projects I had was developing a quantitative analysis of election observers’ findings in order to establish a relationship between electoral integrity and election results. I now hope to continue this work by studying social policy in graduate school.

This summer has been an incredibly fulfilling life experience. Outside of work, I was able to participate in Habitat for Humanity. I attended Sunday Bible School taught by Jimmy Carter, visited his childhood home, and had personal conversations with him pertaining to my future aspirations. It was an honor to learn from President Carter as I have always admired his dedication to human rights and his unwavering commitment to public service. I hope to emulate his dedication to public service.

The Carter Center does an excellent job of providing interns with concrete skills that are not necessarily taught in college environments. Additionally, interns are exposed weekly to global leaders such as the ex-Prime Minister of Canada, Ambassador Peters, and Former Minister of the Interior Juan Fernando. Through the Carter Center, interns are also able to participate in Habitat for Humanity, attend Sunday Bible School taught by Jimmy Carter, visit his childhood home, etc.

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I have spent the past two summers and winter working as part of a research group that specializes in neuropsychology and biological neuroimaging at Yale University’s Translational Brain Imaging Program. The group is led by two associate professors of psychiatry and three postdoctoral fellows from Yale University’s School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut. Our research uses neurotransmitter receptor imaging, specifically from Positron Electron Tomography and Magnetic Resonance Imaging scans, to identify different activity levels and substrate affinities of certain neurological receptors in the brain among healthy subjects as well as those diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Major Depressive Disorder and Bipolar Disorder. My work was focused on two studies that investigate alterations in synaptic vesicle glycoprotein 2A in depression and anxiety subjects, and whether ketamine normalizes SV2A density at the time of its greatest antidepressant response. This particular study is up-and-coming research at many top universities and hospitals, as ketamine administration to depressed human subjects is hypothesized to significantly alleviate depressive symptoms immediately after drug administration as well as for long periods of time. Specifically, at Yale, my research team was investigating the molecular basis of these effects of ketamine administration by examining SV2A density in MDD and PTSD as a correlate of synaptic density, and to determine whether ketamine administration will reverse the synaptic loss in vivo in human subjects.

I performed a range of tasks throughout my internship. I was responsible for talking to psychiatric patients to assess suicide risk, rule out comorbid disqualifying psychiatric illnesses and determine subject qualifications based on patients’ full medical histories, current medications and drug usage, and magnitude of their most recent depressive episode. I presented my proposed subjects to the research group for approval. I also clinically administered and scored psychiatric assessments including the Combat Exposure Scale and Hamilton Depression Rating Scale to assess the severity and validity of subjects’ reported psychiatric episodes and diagnoses. I managed and organized research data such as different receptor densities, radioligand concentration and cognitive data from Positron Tomography Scans, fMRIs, and psychiatric evaluative assessments. I compiled data and information collected from reading hundreds of academic neuroscience research papers into supplemental figures that were included in published manuscripts and received acknowledgements for my work. The most rewarding experience of my summer was being given the opportunity to propose a synergistic mTor antagonist drug interaction that sufficiently crosses the blood brain barrier and reverses the molecular effects of ketamine in vivo. I proposed a combination of drug therapies as the basis of a future study for the lab. I also participated in a postmortem study that investigates SV2A density in postmortem unfixed human brain tissue. Using a frozen microtome, I sliced the human tissue for western blots and immunohistochemistry to measure SV2A levels and geographic location of its expression, respectively.

During my summer experience, I became more independent and discovered that I am very conscientious and a strong leader in the work environment. I learned that I am able to work well both individually and as part of a team. Also, I learned that I enjoy both working in a wet lab and in an office-like environment. Through my experiences, I have discovered a passion for neurobiology and am inspired to further pursue this field of research through graduate work and future employment opportunities.

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This summer I worked with Valles Labs in the Physics Department at Brown University. I researched force sensing capabilities of Paramecium Caudatum, a type of single celled organism found in places like fresh water ponds. I was responsible for creating cell cultures and subcultures as well as collecting cells to experiment on. I designed and ran the experiments. This involved assembling a tube structure to place the cells in, rewiring an electronic device to increase its utility, and setting up microscope cameras to using for recording data. After collecting data, I wrote several programs in Matlab to analyze it. Then, I summarized my findings. Apart from my hands-on work, I also spent a lot of time reading academic articles about experiments other biophysicists had done using paramecium. I used the information from what I had read to help me focus my own experiments.

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The organization I worked for is the largest smartphone dating app provider in Taiwan. The company is responsible for a handful of dating apps that are available in Taiwan and many other countries around the world. I was responsible for translating hundreds of phrases and sentences from Chinese to English, fixing in-app grammar-related errors, and providing consulting services for the apps in America. My largest responsibilities were finding and establishing a relationship with an American freelance reporter, and finding online influencers for the company to hire.

I learned that I would be very competent in a Chinese work environment with my Chinese speaking ability. I also learned that I am competent in independently learning about new industries, which makes me feel very adaptable. Being the only one in the office fluent in English, I was responsible for finding an American freelance reporter to promote the apps. Freelance reporting was a field I knew nothing about. I successfully learned about pricing and communicated with many reporters and I eventually organized a budget for hiring someone which I submitted to the company’s head of marketing. I was given a lot of responsibility and I was able to learn so much. 

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I interned for the Chief Administrative Judge for the Supreme Court of King’s County, Criminal Term. I worked closely with my judge, Hon. Matthew D’Emic, as well as Karen Kleinberg, the principal law clerk for Judge D’Emic’s chambers. I helped analyze grand jury minutes and case files to determine whether there was sufficient evidence and testimony to fit the appropriate statutes and crimes that were being charged to defendants. I took full advantage of the Court’s internship program in visiting other judge’s court rooms and sitting in on their own criminal trials.

My summer experience this summer confirmed and validated my passion for law, going to law school, and working in the legal field thereafter. I enjoyed working in the criminal justice system, as well as analyzing evidence to determine their legal sufficiency. I also sharpened my skills to read closely, especially when analyzing grand jury minutes to determine whether a crime is appropriate to fit a particular statute.

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Photo credit: @Lloyd Bishop Photography/NBC Universal©

This summer I was a script intern at Late Night with Seth Meyers, a nightly talk-show within NBC Universal. As a script intern my responsibilities included distributing all necessary materials to all of the appropriate departments within the show. Furthermore, the script department functions as the liaison between the creative writers and the technical positions at a cable television show. We were responsible for formatting the writers ideas, noting changes, and relaying the information to the control room and the post-production department. Every morning I was also responsible for transcribing the previous night’s script in order to have an accurate representation of all shows on file.

This internship opportunity has solidified the type of career that I intend on pursuing. Furthermore, it introduced me to the script department, which I did not previously know of, and it is a department that aligns well with my interests and skill sets. I also learned the type of work environment I desire to be a part of. All of my fellow interns and superiors were intelligent yet comical, which made the work days very enjoyable.

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