AS SUMMER CAME to a close, many Pomona students returned to campus with new career experiences, thanks to internships across the country and around the globe. Through the Pomona College Internship Program (PCIP), 68 students received funding to participate in work opportunities that would otherwise be unpaid, while others found paid internships that also allowed them to live in new cities and gain new experiences. Here are six of their stories.
Marisol Diaz ’18
Major: American Studies
Internship: Legislative intern with California Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia ’99
Location: Sacramento, California
“Interacting with staffers in Assemblymember Cristina Garcia’s office has been great. She has such a wonderful team of people; specifically, in her office, there are a lot of women and women of color. It’s very encouraging to me, and it’s very important in shaping my experience to be surrounded by women.”
Jacob Feord ’18
Double Major: Economics and Japanese Language and Literature
Internship: Intern with the United States Department of State at U.S. Embassy Tokyo-Akasaka
Location: Tokyo, Japan
“A U.S. government institution managed by Americans, located in Tokyo and staffed largely by Japanese local staff makes for a very unique workplace culture. The mixture of languages and business ideologies is a concoction absolutely unique to the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo. At first it seemed difficult to navigate, but I ended up having a lot of fun getting to know the quirks of the embassy system.”
Pablo Ordoñez ’18
Major: Public Policy Analysis
Internship: Policy intern with the United States
Department of Commerce Census Bureau
Location: Washington, D.C.
“Everyone has this big misconception about the government: It’s a very slow, monotonous, perfunctory place. But like any company, it has a CEO and high-level executives, meetings, people very connected to the mission of the bureau—and that’s helpful to me for any industry I’ll go into. Government could be slow and inefficient, but there are people there who are very committed to the work they are doing who have extremely innovative ideas.”
Carly Grimes ’18
Double Major: Cognitive Science and Politics
Internship: Intern with the Yale University Canine Cognition Center
Location: New Haven, Conn.
“My favorite part of this internship was interacting with the dog’s owners, since I love communicating science research to the general public. The owners were always very interested and would ask great questions that sharpened my ability to make complex scientific theories more easily digestible for people with vastly varying scientific backgrounds.”
Sylvia Gitonga ’20
Major: Economics
Internship: Investment analyst intern with the East African Reinsurance Company
Location: Nairobi, Kenya
“I learned how to establish and maintain relationships not only with clients but also with the company’s employees. I also became more vocal and confident in terms of presenting ideas to people. Although I secured this internship by myself, the one-on-one meetings with Wanda Gibson in the Career Development Office, with regard to my career path, really played a huge role in acquiring the internship. The PCIP funding, however, is what really enabled me to carry out this internship. If not for that, my career growth would be stagnant. ”
Samuel Kelly ’18
Major: Media Studies
Internship: Intern with The Daily Show with Trevor Noah
Location: New York City
“I’d say one of the biggest things I’ve learned at this internship is the level of professionalism necessary to make a massive production like The Daily Show operate smoothly and at a high level. It takes a lot of people to get The Daily Show on the air every night, and I’m always impressed at how everyone in the office knows exactly what they need to do to make it successful.”