What organization did you intern with? What was your role?
I interned with the Substances and Sexual Health (SASH) Lab and continued my role as a graduate research assistant.
Where was your internship located?
New Haven.
What is your career goal?
After my MPH, I will be earning my PhD in public health. Following that, I hope to either become a professor in public health or a full-time researcher in public health, especially adolescent sexual and reproductive health.
What was your internship funding source?
The SASH Lab.
What were your duties/responsibilities during your internship?
During the internship, my responsibilities were to assist with current research studies and help develop and implement the SASH Lab’s inaugural Summer Youth Research Program. I helped collect quantitative and qualitative data in New Jersey for various projects and assisted in manuscript preparation for projects we had begun in the spring semester, as well as for new projects. For the Summer Youth Research Program, I helped develop lesson plans for various research and public health workshops for SASH Lab members to implement, and taught four workshops in Newark, New Jersey, and New Haven. I also hosted our Community Forum during the program’s Yale Day, when youth in the program visited campus and got to observe life at Yale. Finally, I traveled to a couple of conferences and presented work the SASH Lab has been developing to peers and leaders in the substance use fields.
What did you take away from your experience as an intern? What was the value of the internship to you?
The main thing I took away was the value of community engagement in public health research. This summer, I got to immerse myself in the Paterson and northern New Jersey communities through outreach activities and facilitating workshops for our program. It was so invaluable to talk to the teens we work with, and learn from them about what they see in the world and what projects they want to work on in the community. Working with the teens gives me hope that the future of public health and research continues to be strong, and we are cultivating leaders and advocates for health in our communities.
What was the most rewarding aspect of your internship? What was the most challenging aspect? The most surprising aspect?
The most rewarding aspect was working with the teens in our program. As someone interested in adolescent health, I was excited to get to know our students on a personal level while pushing them to achieve their potential as scholars.
The most challenging aspect was learning to be flexible and embracing the fluidity of community work. Not everything goes to plan, and that’s okay! It’s important to know what is the most important value or lesson that should come out of that day and work to achieve, that rather than achieving specific tasks.
How has YSPH prepared you for this internship?
The classes I have taken at YSPH have definitely prepared me for the work I did this summer. My Qualitative Research class prepared me to teach a workshop on it and develop my own study, which I will continue to work on this fall. My Advocacy and Activism class prepared me to guide students in our program when they were developing their campaigns on substance use. My Social Justice & Health Equity class helped me center the ideas of community-engaged research and ethical behaviors when working with adolescents.
What would you say to a student who’s considering a similar internship?
Be flexible and eager to help wherever you can! When you’re a research assistant working in a community, the best experiences occur when you’re going with the flow, being attentive to your surroundings, and offering to help wherever needed. Take the time to get to know the people you’re working with, whether they’re colleagues or participants in your events. The relationships you build will last you a lifetime and teach you many lessons you’ll never forget.