Each summer, Bates students engage in professional internships. This year, 133 students completed internships with support from the Center for Purposeful Work. These included access to Bates-specific paid internships with employer partners in diverse industries and locations, as well as opportunities to apply for a summer stipend for any unpaid or low-paying internship, including at nonprofits that don’t have the budget to hire interns.
Some students — 41 to be exact — were able to complete that work in Maine, aka Vacationland. Work ranged from outdoor leadership to immigrant rights advocacy to marine research, and offered opportunities to engage more deeply with the communities that help shape Bates students.
Below are highlights from a few of the students who completed Maine-based internships.
An environmental studies and politics double major, Kazumi Haag ’28 of College Park, Md., worked off the coast of Rockland at the Hurricane Island Center for Science and Leadership. The 125-acre that serves as a place-based environmental research and education-focused center. Haag spent time studying the population health of early benthic (juvenile) lobsters and working on the aquaculture farm focused on scallops and oysters.
“Spending time on Hurricane this summer gave me hands-on fieldwork skills and independence that I have not experienced before,” Haag said. “From lobstering to learning about scallop anatomy to driving boats, Hurricane has shown me why law and policy to protect our marine spaces matters.”
Haag plans to attend law school to focus on environmental law and policy. Following her internship, she imagines working specifically on marine protection.
Like Haag, Simona Muscarella ’27 of Buffalo, N.Y., spent her summer enjoying nature while developing new skills as a social media and marketing intern for Apogee Adventures, based in Brunswick. Muscarella guided student trips across New England and in Canada.
“I have learned so much about marketing,” Muscarella said, “while also having the ability and luxury of going outside and camping/helping leaders on trips with their students.” It was hard to find a photo with Muscarella — a rhetoric, film, and screen studies major — in the shot; she was usually on the other side of the lens, taking the pictures of the camping and exploring that she helped facilitate.
Though Hannah Herbst ’28 of Larkspur, Calif., spent more time indoors, her days were filled with imaginative energy as she worked as an intern at The Telling Room — Portland-based, nationally-recognized creative youth development nonprofit.
An English major, she assisted with curriculum design and implementation while also working directly with student writers during summer camps. The Telling Room, based in Portland, engages students ages 6 to18 in creative writing, and as a teaching intern, Herbst had the opportunity to watch them “grow as writers and learners over the weeks during their readings and performances.”
“This experience has helped me flex my creative muscles in a professional environment and learn more about the ways in which I can apply these skills to my future career,” Herbst said.
Maine Immigrants Rights’ Coalition, based in Portland, hosted three Batesies this summer: Tuna Durna ’28 of Istanbul, Erica Jenkins ’28 of Summit, N.J., and Drew Jean Baptiste ’28 of Montvale, N.J.
Jenkins worked to edit and write policy briefs, assist in speech writing, and track the status of legislation from the 132nd Maine Legislature.
“I am a pre-law student,” Jenkins said, “and being able to understand the nonprofit sector of human rights has been a valuable experience that has shown me how policy intersects with everyday life.”
Durna, an economics and politics double major, similarly supported communications projects including media outreach and meeting with coalition members. A memorable experience for Durna involved operating the ICE Watch Hotline during a busy time. “I had to remain calm, listen carefully, collect accurate information, and help connect callers with appropriate support during stressful situations,” Durna said.
For Julia Young ’28 of Westborough, Mass., a summer interning for the Jackson Laboratory in Acadia National Park helped clarify future goals. Young worked in the Tewhey Lab, a part of the Jackson Laboratory composed of human geneticists, molecular biologists, and computational scientists.
“I am very interested in going to an M.D./Ph.D. program in the future, so working in the Tewhey Lab has been super inspirational and really grown my love for research, especially in the genetics field,” Young said. Young primarily worked in the wet lab performing experiments and assisted in ATAC-Seq procedures for primate fibroblast cell lines.
Though Paige Durant ’28 grew up on a working waterfront in South Dartmouth, Mass., her internship with University of Maine’s Pelagic Fisheries Laboratory, based in Portland, offered “a glimpse into the complicated nature of fisheries management and the immense amount of work it takes to align science, policy, culture, and lived experience.”
Working both in the lab and in the field collecting samples to understand the life history of Atlantic bluefin tuna, Durant collaborated with both scientists and fishers. “Through this internship, I’ve solidified my interest in the relationships between environment and society, especially through the lens of culture and values,” Durant said.
