In a student’s professional development journey, internships serve as a vital stepping stone. They can help a student network with professionals, get to know a potential industry of interest and gain vital experience to build resumes. While possibly lacking the funds to do so, internship opportunities may expect interested students to travel for temporary relocation, all while paying for expenses.
Ainsley MacLachlan completed an internship in summer 2022 with Harvard Medical School’s Grousbeck Center for Gene Therapy Zabaleta lab, thanks to the Internship Funding Award.
Syracuse University Career Services dares students to dream big professionally while working diligently to aid in the process of finding an internship by helping to remove barriers. Breaking down financial barriers to boost student success is the University’s Internship Funding Award. Offered annually to eligible sophomores and juniors, this financial award provides support to help meet the cost of an unpaid summer internship for credit, travel and living expenses.
“The Internship Funding Award is an example of how we can support our students with an intentional approach,” says Erin Smith ’15, Career Services internship program coordinator. “Through this fund, students have the opportunity to turn their vision into reality.”
Recipients of the Internship Funding Award express that it has provided opportunities that otherwise may not have been available and encourage all eligible students to apply.
When seeking a hands-on laboratory experience, Ainsley MacLachlan ’24 discovered limited opportunities, often a result of reduced laboratory ability to host intern participation. When MacLachlan didn’t find an internship that fit her scope of professional development and sought-after experience, she built one. Throughout summer 2022 at the Harvard Medical School Grousbeck Center for Gene Therapy Zabaleta lab, MacLachlan supported research surrounding genetic engineering, reducing costs and working with the Adeno-associated virus (AAV), commonly used as a vector for gene therapies.
“I was so excited about the research that they were doing, I was not ready to give up,” says MacLachlan. “When I found the Internship Funding Award and presented it to the primary investigator of the lab, she was willing to take me on with my own funding. I was able to work collaboratively with others in the lab to develop skills and understand new concepts.”
Onyenkpa
Motivated by passion and providing experiences that help to identify career goals, internships at their core are exploratory. L3HARRIS Technologies Diversity Operations, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) intern, Uchechi Onyenkpa ’23, dove into her passion of working in DEI in summer 2022.
“This experience was extremely valuable to me, as working in DEI has always been of interest and an area I ultimately seek to pursue a career in. This internship provided me not only a strong foundation, but a wide glimpse into this area through the projects that I worked on and the connections I made,” says Onyenkpa. “This is an experience that I am very thankful for, but I am also thankful for the Internship Funding Award, as it eased a significant strain off me, financially, allowing me to focus more on my internship and gain valuable experiences. I encourage students to apply for this funding. Students are often wary of applying because they think they might not end up getting it but I cannot stress just how helpful this funding was to me. I believe that without it, my internship experience would not have been as great as it was!”
Complete details, including application instructions, are available on the Career Services Internship Funding Award webpage.
Story by Student Experience communications intern Esteban Quiñones ’24, S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications
