{"id":148845,"date":"2022-09-23T11:54:43","date_gmt":"2022-09-23T15:54:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/?p=148845"},"modified":"2024-07-01T15:56:43","modified_gmt":"2024-07-01T19:56:43","slug":"slideshow-bates-summer-internships-and-what-i-want-my-future-to-look-like","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/2022\/09\/23\/slideshow-bates-summer-internships-and-what-i-want-my-future-to-look-like\/","title":{"rendered":"Slideshow: Bates summer internships and ‘what I want my future to look like’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Over the summer, we checked in, through photography and interviews, with nine students whose summer jobs had Bates funding, whether through a campus office like Admission, through academics, or through the college’s nationally known Center for Purposeful Work<\/a>, which provided more than 100 funded internships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From here on the Bates campus to far-flung Florida, these nine spent their summer doing everything from raking grain in a malthouse, to helping scout the next great baseball player, to assisting a law firm with an international bank fraud case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They were eager to tell us about what they saw (and smelled), what they did, and what they learned about themselves and their emerging sense of purpose. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

‘A little bit indescribable’<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

The smell? \u201cIt\u2019s as if you took a bakery and soaked it in water for a long time,\u201d says Eli Kushner \u201924, describing the odor of the germination room at the Blue Ox Malthouse in Lisbon Falls. \u201cI’m not doing a very good job at describing the smell. I guess it\u2019s a little bit indescribable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Phyllis
Eli Kushner \u201924 rakes grains at the Blue Ox Malthouse in a neighboring town, Lisbon Falls, on Aug. 1, 2022. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Over the summer, Kushner used his Bates-funded Purposeful Work internship at Blue Ox to learn a key step in the beer-brewing process: how malts are created. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In beer parlance, malt is a grain that has been steeped, germinated (but not too germinated), kiln-dried, and then delivered to breweries. Blue Ox uses grains harvested on Northern Maine farms to create the flavorful malts that are used by some of the area\u2019s premier craft breweries, including Allagash and Maine Beer Co., among others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A double major in biochemistry and music from Philadelphia, Kushner put his body and brain to work at Blue Ox. He spent hours raking grains in a room carefully controlled for heat and humidity. In the malthouse lab, Kushner helped with various quality-control processes, such as testing moisture content. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Eli
Blue Ox creates flavorful malts that are used by some of the area\u2019s premier craft breweries, including Allagash and Maine Beer Co., among others. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd we test friability which is basically how the grain crushes,\u201d Kushner explains. Along the way, he\u2019s been learning how to organize and present data visually, through charts, graphs, and the like. Kushner has been given guidance and training but trusted to do work correctly. \u201cWhat I do is sort of up to me, which is cool.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

‘Being on campus makes a difference’<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Giving Admission tours is more than just a walk on the Quad. There’s also helping to staff information sessions, and contributing to the Instagram account to welcome the Class of 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As an Admission summer intern, Sam Simmons \u201924 quickly learned how to weave together personal anecdotes and institutional facts, all while walking backwards. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Sam
Sam Simmons \u201924 of Louisville, Ky., talks to her Admission tour at Lake Andrews on July 19, 2022. across College Street. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Since the early 2000s, Bates has, whenever possible, offered separate tours for parents and prospective students. \u201cIt\u2019s a great opportunity for the students to ask questions that they wouldn\u2019t want to ask around their parents, and vice versa,\u201d says Simmons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While all tours visit campus landmarks, such as Ladd Library, Pettengill Hall, and Gomes Chapel, she learned to tailor her walks and talks to the interests of the visitors, like lingering a little longer in Bonney if the group seems to have a STEM interest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Sam
Sam Simmons \u201924 leads a tour across College Street. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Bates has developed a robust online experience<\/a> for anyone for whom a visit is not in the cards. But \u201csimply being on campus makes a difference,” Simmons says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If students can picture themselves sitting in Commons as she did on her high school visit, or walking to the library, \u201cI think it\u2019s the best way to figure out if they want to go to school here, if they can actually see themselves as a member of the Bates community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

‘Or something!‘<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Less than two hours from campus, nestled in the heart of Unity, Maine, Eli Boesch-Dining \u201923 learned how to really compare apples and oranges \u2014 well, maybe not oranges, but certainly apples, pears, and the ins and outs of keeping an orchard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
On July 20, 2022, Eli Boesch-Dining \u201923 and Laura Sieger, orchard coordinator for the Maine Organic Farmers and Growers Association work in the Heritage Orchard. They were thinning fruit in the apple trees, which helps alleviate pest problems. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

An environmental studies major from Concord, N.H., Boesch-Dining was a Purposeful Work intern in the Heritage Orchard, maintained by the state\u2019s preeminent organic farming group, the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The orchard contains more than 300 varieties of apple and pear trees that originate from all 16 Maine counties. Dating as far back as 1630, most of them are on the verge of extinction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Boesch-Dining has done hands-on agricultural work before, including at a hydroponics facility and a plant nursery in New Hampshire, but this was his first time working for a nonprofit organization, and he liked their focus on conservation and environmental sustainability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From revamping the orchard\u2019s website, to thinning apples in the orchard, to learning about pest mitigation, the summer was one big learning curve, but he\u2019s thankful for all the skills he gained, and the perspectives of the people he worked with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
Eli Boesch-Dining \u201923 poses at the entrance to MOFGA’s Heritage Garden, home to more than 300 varieties of apple and pear trees that originate from all 16 Maine counties. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Back on campus, he\u2019s particularly interested in his “Soils” course<\/a> for how it might connect to his interest in composting. And he wants to learn more about programming through the curriculum, too. He’s got a lot going on, wondering with a laugh if he’s having a “mini quarter-life crisis,”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He’s looking ahead to his thesis, which “is probably going to revolve around different biological inputs in Maine, like the timber industry and seafood, and how those can come together to be composted or anaerobically digested \u2014 or something!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

‘In essence, quality over quantity’<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Julia Bisson \u201923 of North Yarmouth, Maine, headed south for a Purposeful Work internship with a law firm with a claim to fame: one its founders was a lead prosecutor<\/a> who helped convict the world\u2019s most-wanted drug kingpin, Joaquin Guzm\u00e1n, the notorious \u201cEl Chapo.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Julia Bisson ’23 poses in Peacock Park in the Coconut Grove neighborhood of Miami, Fla., on Aug. 12, 2022. (Eva Marie Uzcategui for Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

These days, Adam Fels and his firm<\/a> focus on the defense side of the law, including cases related to securities, banking fraud, national security, and money laundering, to name a few. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the firm, Bisson helped do research on a major case involving alleged bank fraud. \u201cHuge and complex,\u201d she says. Not surprising, the entire firm is working on it. There was great urgency, but also \u201ca lot of teamwork and collaborating with the other partners, attorneys, and paralegals. I think that made it less scary for me,\u201d she says with a chuckle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI learned the importance of detail and thoroughness. I realized that sometimes it is better to slow down and do more thorough work rather than do faster work at the expense of accuracy and detail. In essence, quality over quantity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Julia Bisson \u201923 poses with Adam Fels, a founding partner of Fridman Fels & Soto, PLLC, in Coral Gables, Fla. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Along the way, she talked with her colleagues and gleaned valuable advice for her future career in the legal field: take a year or two off after undergrad to experience other things, and get a law clerkship after graduating law school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA lot of people do that and they say it gives them a really good perspective once you are a practicing lawyer and attorney,\u201d she says. \u201cBecause you got to see things from the perspective of a judge.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

‘Communicate science effectively’<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

For Rebecca Anderson \u201924, panoramic coastal views were a nice bonus as a research fellow at MDI Biological Laboratory, located in Bar Harbor on Maine’s Mount Desert Island .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Funded by an INBRE grant<\/a>, Anderson, a double major in biochemistry and math from Boone, N.C., studied regeneration and regenerative medicine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Phyllis
Rebecca Anderson \u201924 had a research fellowship at the MDI Biological Laboratory on Maine’s Mount Desert Island. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

She worked with Joel Graber, Ph.D., a senior staff scientist and director of computational biology and bioinformatics core at MDIBL. With fellow scientists worldwide, Graber is researching the axolotl, a Mexican salamander that has the astonishing ability to regrow limbs and major organs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Understanding the salamander\u2019s ability to regenerate can help researchers \u201cimprove human wound healing and tissue scarring,\u201d says Anderson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She focused on developing a search tool that allows researchers to identify orthologs, genes that are derived from the same gene in a common ancestor. Specifically, researchers hope to find axolotl genes within the human genome and other commonly studied organisms. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Bates-funded
Rebecca Anderson ’24 delivers her research presentation on Aug. 3, 2022, on “Generation of a gene orthology map between axolotl and key model organisms” at MDIBL. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Anderson got to talk with faculty and graduate students about their journeys and, at the end of her fellowship, gave a community-wide presentation. That helped her to \u201ccommunicate science effectively to a lot of different audiences.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cIt’s been really cool to see all these different areas of science that I can be a part of, and think about what I want to do in the future.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

‘Feel just more humble’<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Miguel Angel Pacheco \u201924 of Caracas, Venezuela, reports that he worked with a bunch of clowns  during his Bates-funded Purposeful Work internship. But it\u2019s all good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Phyllis
Miguel Angel Pacheco \u201924 of Caracas, Venezuela, poses on Aug. 5, 2022, at the famed Celebration Barn Theater in nearby South Paris, where he was a creative producing fellow. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As a creative producing fellow at the famed Celebration Barn Theater in nearby South Paris, he worked on the Barn\u2019s 50th anniversary celebration, a show that featuring renowned clowns Bill Irwin and Avner the Eccentric, and a one-woman show, Tony Montanaro \u2014 A Love Story<\/em>, an homage to the Barn\u2019s founder, considered one of the great mimes of the 20th century<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pacheco designed the lighting and ran sound and lights for the piece, which was created and performed by Karen Montanaro<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pacheco was an experienced performer when he arrived at Bates, within theater, dance, installation, and circus. \u201cI’m primarily a performer \u2014 that is what most of my training has been over the years,\u201d says Pacheco, who could be found on any given weekend as a sheriff-on-stilts performer at various Maine arts events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Miguel
Pacheco Gonzalez \u201824 works the light board at the Celebration Theater. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt’s just recently that I’ve shifted also to theater production,\u201d as a carpenter, house manager, and crew member. \u201cBeing able to uplift someone else’s work and collaborate with them in a way that it’s not only my voice, but I’m trying to uplift a different voice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The experience \u201cmakes me feel just more humble about the space and the work that I’m doing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

‘Your project and its driving question’<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

A Purposeful Work intern at Brigham and Women\u2019s Hospital in Boston, Casey Winter \u201923 of Malvern, Pa., gained an appreciation for two habits of mind that are invaluable to a STEM researcher: troubleshooting and collaboration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Phyllis
Casey Winter \u201923 poses in the lab at Brigham and Women\u2019s Hospital in Boston on Aug. 10, 2022. (Ilene Perlman for Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Troubleshooting, Winter said, \u201cenables you to develop a deeper understanding of your project and its driving question, which is essential in the scientific process and the progression of research.\u201d A spirit of collaboration, she added, is essential to creating a \u201cstrong working relationship with your colleagues and fellow researchers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Winter is pursuing pre-health studies at Bates with a major in biochemistry and a general education concentration in public health. She worked in the medical research lab of Raymond Manohar Anchan, M.D., Ph.D., an assistant professor of obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive biology at Harvard Medical School.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Casey Winter \u201923 poses outside Brigham’s and Women’s Hospital on Aug. 10, 2022. (Ilene Perlman for Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The lab\u2019s research includes finding better treatments for gynecological diseases, including endometriosis, a painful but difficult to diagnose condition in which a type of tissue that typically lines the uterus grows outside of the uterus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s difficult to diagnose because of its \u201cvariable and broad symptoms,\u201d she explained. \u201cInvasive surgery is the only way to confirm endometriosis.\u201d The lab seeks to develop better treatment plans for patient pain and, ultimately, improved methods for diagnosis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

‘It has been spectacular’<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Kendall Williams \u201923 of Phenix City, Ala., spent his summer in Texas, in a Purposeful Work internship with the multinational consulting firm Accenture in Houston. He worked in the firm\u2019s Technology Development Program, aligned in Security Practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Kendall Williams \u201923, poses for a photograph on Aug. 16, 2022. He spent his summer in Houston with the consulting firm Accenture. (Arturo Olmos for Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI love the work that Accenture does,\u201d Williams said, and after working remotely for the company\u2019s Detroit office during the summer 2021, he knew he wanted to return as an analyst for them. \u201cBut I also wanted to check out what it was like living and working in a new city,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So he chose to move to Houston for the summer. \u201cIt has been spectacular both in my work and personal life,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve been able to learn new and transferable skills and have really stepped out of my comfort zone being in a new city.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\u201cI\u2019ve
The internship “has been spectacular both in my work and personal life,\u201d said Kendall Williams ’23. (Arturo Olmos for Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
‘This is what I want my future to look like’<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Each summer, Major League Baseball scouts descend on eastern Massachusetts to evaluate top college baseball players in the Cape Cod League, widely considered the best amateur league in the land.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And when they attend a Yarmouth\u2013Dennis Red Sox game, they seek out Amanda Taylor \u201923, the team\u2019s Major League Baseball scouting liaison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Amanda
Amanda Taylor \u201923 looks out from the bench during a game between the Yarmouth\u2013Dennis Red Sox and the Chatham Anglers on Aug. 3, 2022. (Photograph by Sadie Parker)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The scouts want answers that will help their clubs make multi-million dollar decisions in the amateur draft every year. As a scouting liaison, Taylor makes sure the scouts get the information they need to correctly evaluate the talent they see on the field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She works closely with the players, spending the majority of each game in the Y-D Red Sox dugout and sometimes throwing batting practice. A psychology major who understands the game (she\u2019s a Bates softball player), Taylor is able to provide insights to the scouts beyond the metrics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Befitting the goal of Purposeful Work internship, the experience helped her discover more about herself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTaking into account what I study at Bates, and what I like to do, and how I want to live my life, I started to really look into it and became really invested in it,\u201d Taylor said. \u201cI came to realize this is what I want my future to look like.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Amanda Taylor \u201923 and players toss baseballs into a bucket after batting practice prior to the team\u2019s Cape Cod League game vs. the Cotuit Kettleers on July 21, 2022. (Aaron Morse\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nine students whose summer jobs had Bates funding, including Purposeful Work internships, told us about what they did (and smelled) \u2014 and what they learned about their emerging sense of purpose.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":148,"featured_media":148896,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_hide_ai_chatbot":false,"_ai_chatbot_style":"","associated_faculty":[],"_Page_Specific_Css":"","_bates_restrict_mod":false,"_table_of_contents_display":false,"_table_of_contents_location":"","_table_of_contents_disableSticky":false,"_is_featured":false,"footnotes":"","_bates_seo_meta_description":"","_bates_seo_block_robots":false,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_id":0,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_twitter_id":0,"_bates_seo_share_title":"","_bates_seo_canonical_overwrite":"","_bates_seo_twitter_template":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[12356],"class_list":["post-148845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academic-life","tag-center-for-purposeful-work"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148845","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/148"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148845"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148845\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":149011,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148845\/revisions\/149011"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/148896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}