Celebrating a Record Summer for Career Internships

Chaney interned with a tech startup in Darmstadt called Pink Robotics, although when he applied for the position, the company and its mission were somewhat different. “It was called Anyscrew, and it had its own YouTube channel, which I watched. When they put in a request for interns, I applied thinking I would be building a machine that counts screws—I ended up building a robot!”

It’s one thing studying artificial intelligence in the classroom, but actually designing and constructing a product that uses the technology is another thing altogether, said Chaney, who is spending his junior year in an engineering program at Dartmouth University.

Chaney’s internship, which was supported by the Peter Buck Internship Fund, was one of many highlighted in a recent poster show in Smith Union.

It was organized by the Office for Career Exploration and Development (CXD), which this year gave out more than 220 funded summer internships—a record number.

“The energy and enthusiasm in the room were infectious!” remarked Meg Springer, senior career advisor and funded internship program director at CXD. “The students were eager to talk about their internship experiences and learnings, and many indicated that their internship supervisors would love to have another Bowdoin intern.

"That reflects so well on Bowdoin students. There was definitely a lot of magic happening at the exhibition,” she added.

Other students showcasing their internship experiences included:

Anand Ginsburg-Shukla ’29, who had what he called a “once in a lifetime experience” combining his passion for soccer with an interest in human rights and labor issues. He interned with the Dignity 2026 Coalition—a network of more than fifteen nonprofits that focused on the labor and human rights of workers, fans, and players during the 2026 FIFA men's World Cup. He was based at the O’Neill Institute’s Center for Community Health Innovation at Georgetown Law, Georgetown University’s law school and one of the leaders of the coalition.

“I worked with policy experts and law professors to produce and vet a host city scorecard, a project that allowed our partners in host cities to grade the human rights performances of their local and state governments during the tournament.” The aim, he said, was to ensure that workers, fans, and anybody else in the eleven host cities across North America were protected during the tournament.

Ginsburg-Shukla, who wants to major in sociology, also got to go to a couple of the matches, including the final between Spain and Argentina, where he used his Spanish language skills to monitor fan behavior and look out for any potentially antisocial behavior.  “I was incredibly lucky to attend games as part of the internship. In many ways this summer was a dream come true.”

Ginsburg-Shukla’s intership was supported by the Lubin Family Foundation Internship Fund.

Natalia Lopez ’28 interned at the Portland District Courthouse, where she had the opportunity to work alongside the judges and magistrates. During her ten-week internship, her courtroom responsibilities consisted of overseeing the exhibits, recording court records, managing the courtroom, and assisting judges throughout the daily proceedings.

Lopez, who is majoring in government and environmental studies, said her favorite part of the summer was the opportunity to spend so much time in the courtroom. “The chance to learn directly from judges, magistrates, attorneys, and court staff was invaluable to my learning and has made me even more excited to continue my studies at Bowdoin and prepare for a legal career.”

She was not expecting to be in a courtroom when she originally signed on, added Lopez. “I was just going to help with the transition to e-filing, but about a week in, they asked me: ‘Do you feel like you could help out in the courtroom and clerk for the judges?’ I was nervous but I went for it, and I'm so glad I did because I left the internship feeling really empowered to pursue law as a career.”

Lopez’s internship was supported by the Sabra and Richard B. Ladd ’62 Government Internship Fund.

Amelie Matuch ’28 was among the several dozen students who pursued summer internships related to health and medicine. Matuch, who is on a pre-med track, worked with staff at the MaineHealth Institute for Research in Scarborough. Her internship was focused on a project involving NOHA, a promising blood-based biomarker for breast cancer detection.

“Throughout my experience I shadowed cancer genetics counselors, breast radiologists, and research coordinators. I was exposed to laboratory settings in the early stages of the clinical research process,” she remarked. Matuch also authored a review article synthesizing the published research on NOHA and its potential clinical applications (not yet published).

While she gained important technical skills from the internship, Matuch said her most valuable take-away was learning how important patient experience is to the work and the importance of improving it.

“I really wanted to work with patients, so being able to see how important that was in the actual health care setting was really valuable to me and solidified my aspirations to pursue a career in medicine.”

Her internship was supported by the Preston Public Interest Career Fund.

Blessing Nwafor ’29 pursued a different health care angle in her internship at MaineHealth Mid Coast Hospital’s Parkview campus in Brunswick, working as a mobility aid assistant and hospital volunteer. “I shadowed health care providers, answered patients’ call bells, tidied patient rooms, help stock emergency supply service each morning, and volunteered at the emergency department front desk,” explained Nwafor.

Another aspect of Nwafor’s internship, which was funded directly by CXD, was lending a hand in the kitchen. Here she helped prepare meals and set up an ongoing project to introduce a traditional Nigerian fried rice dish to the hospital menu. “Cooking is a personal passion and a source of joy for me, so being able to combine that with being in hospital environment was incredibly fulfilling.”

This experience also gave her clarity on her career path, said Nwafor, who wants to major in neuroscience. “It confirmed how much I love being in a hospital setting and solidified my decision to pursue a health care career.” Another joyful aspect, she said, was getting to interact directly with patients, which helped her overcome her natural shyness.

“The experience improved my social skills—knowing how to relate to people, what to say and what not to say.”

Layla Silva ’27 “had a blast” interning at the New England Aquarium on Boston Harbor, where she was part of the changing exhibits team, working behind the scenes across multiple sea animal galleries. Her primary tasks included general maintenance, cleaning, feeding, and looking after the animals.

“I worked with sharks, jellies, turtles, poison dart frogs, shore birds, and, of course, fish; they can all be incredibly smart, act playful or emotional, and have preferences or motivations,” remarked biology and English major, who said she felt like she got to know and understand the animals she worked with over the summer. The seals and sea lions were particularly impressive: “They could follow the trainers’ instructions as if they spoke English!” Her favorite task, she said, was feeding the sharks. “They knew when feeding time was and would sometimes jump out of the water in their excitement.”

This was the ideal internship for Silva, she said, because she aims to work as in marine biology after Bowdoin as an educator and an advocate. “I want to teach the general public what it means to appreciate and protect marine life,” she explained, “And this is easier when people can identify with these animals by seeing how clearly they can feel and think.”

Silva’s internship was supported by the Rizzieri Family Internship Fund.

Check out these images from the students' summer internships: