What Chatham students learned from their summer internships
Aidan Bobik ’24 stands in front of the Elk County Courthouse. (Courtesy of Aidan Bobik)
Chatham University students this summer acquired internships from Buffalo, New York to Barcelona, Spain. They developed social media content for internationally recognized nonprofits, gone behind the scenes in local elections, and developed immersive museum exhibits. By engaging in real-world working experiences, they deepened their connection to what they’ve learned in the classroom.
Below are interviews with three Chatham undergrads who spent their summers developing new career skills in New York City; Buffalo, New York; and Ridgway, Pennsylvania. These conversations have been edited for brevity and clarity.
How would you describe your internship?
Jada Jenkins ’26: I’m actually doing two internships this summer! One internship is with the Greater New York Red Cross, for which I’m a communications and social engagement intern. Here, I help make a lot of the video content for our social media. My other internship is with Brookside Artist Management, which is an entertainment agency. Here my work is a lot more varied, but it all boils down to helping find roles for the clients!
Jada Jenkins (right) marches through a Pride event with colleagues from her internship at the American Red Cross Greater New York Region. (Photo courtesy of Jada Jenkins)
I found out about this program, at Fordham University. You could live there for the summer while you do an internship, and I immediately applied. For my specific career field, I feel like New York is an amazing place to be. And I was definitely proven right! As funny as it sounds, there’s just a different energy here that I’ve never experienced.
Abigail Vendura ’25: My internship is at the Buffalo Niagara Heritage Village, which is getting relocated and renovated in the next couple years. I am putting together a report that documents the current exhibits’ conditions, as well as proposing immersive and interactive exhibits and experiences for the future building.
Aidan Bobik ’24: I am an intern at the Elk County Commissioners’ Office in Elk County, Pennsylvania. As an intern, I’ve experienced first-hand the various county offices, departments, and functions; sat in on meetings; and completed research and reports for local officials. I also had the opportunity to participate in the May primary election process, helping pre-canvass mail-in ballots and witnessing the election returns process.
I’m proudly from Elk County, I care deeply about rural communities, and I’m interested in local government. To meet the internship requirement, I knew I wanted my internship to involve those three things, and so I reached out to the chief clerk of the county in February about the possibility of doing an internship at the county. That started a conversation that eventually led to the internship I currently have.
What does a typical day at your internship look like?
Jada Jenkins: At the Red Cross, my top priority is working on the “In Case You Missed It” reel for all of our social media, which is a one-minute video summarizing what the GNY Red Cross has accomplished in the past week. It’s the project I’ve most consistently worked on, and I feel like I’ve kind of grown with it. Besides that, I’ll help schedule our social media posts and edit other kinds of videos, such as sizzle reels of various events. And when I’m not doing any of these things, I love taking advantage of the Keurig to make hot chocolate!
My day varies the most at Brookside. There are a few of us interns, and when our boss calls out an assignment that needs to be done, we all just jump on it like the “Finding Nemo” seagulls. So far though, my tasks have mostly varied between script coverage, editing demo reels, and crafting quote sheets.
Aidan Bobik stands in front of an elk statue in Elk County, where he interned for the local government. (Courtesy of Aidan Bobik)
Abigail Vendura: My workplace is very laid back and I work from home one day a week. I usually start the day with planning and checking in on my current timeline. Then I do research, drafting, drawing, writing, or whatever else I need to do for that phase of the project. I also have a couple meetings weekly to get feedback on my work.
Aidan Bobik: It really depends on the day. I often sit in on meetings, especially bi-weekly commissioner meetings. Other times I’m helping the chief clerk or deputy chief clerk with tasks, or I’m working on a project for the commissioners. And, I’ve also gotten the opportunity to shadow and learn about the various county departments and offices, from the sheriff to the register and recorder, to the elections department or Veterans Affairs.
How does your internship complement what you're learning at Chatham?
Jada Jenkins: As a film major, both internships complement my education in very different ways. Red Cross has taught me a lot in terms of video editing and marketing. A big focus this summer was “brand image”, which I remember talking about in my marketing class, so that was pretty cool!
With Brookside, it’s more tied into the film industry in specific than Red Cross is. I do a lot of script coverage (which is reading scripts, then summarizing them, and providing feedback), and it’s taught me a lot about writing my own scripts. I took a scriptwriting class at Chatham last year, and I’ve been able to integrate a lot of what I learned into my feedback.
Abigail Vendura: I think exhibit design will be my calling after college, but both immersive media and interior architecture have broad niches. So, this really gives me a chance to dig into what I’m interested in while also playing off the knowledge I already gained from two years of these programs.
Aidan Bobik: Many of the political science classes at Chatham—especially Dr. JSC’s (Jennie Sweet-Cushman)—emphasize local government, but sometimes Pennsylvania’s rural and smaller communities and counties are left out of the conversation.
Rural Pennsylvania is important with unique challenges, opportunities, and circumstances, and this internship has helped me to apply the topics I’ve learned in class to these places. I’ve also gotten the opportunity to implement skills I’ve learned in class—such as policy research and report/fact sheet writing—in a tangible way. I made a fact sheet for the commissioners; I don’t think I could have done that before.
What have you most enjoyed from your internship experience?
Jada Jenkins: I’ve really enjoyed the connections I’ve been making and the constructive feedback I’ve been getting on my work. I feel like I’ve grown a lot in a very short amount of time. It’s also been amazing having so much creative liberty over projects I do with Red Cross. I feel like the work I’m doing is important. I think coming into this, for some reason, I was expecting to be given a lot of “throwaway work”, or tasks that, if I messed up, no one would notice. However, I feel like the work I’m doing at both internships makes an impact, and I’m really happy about that.
Abigail Vendura spent her summer as the Buffalo Niagara Heritage Village. (Abigail Vendura)
Abigail Vendura: Since the plans are so far out, these are some of the first steps in curating the future exhibits. I get to help inspire new ways of design that fit into the content and message of the museum. I get to be the expert, even though I’m the intern, but I have also learned so much about museums in general, museums design, and the curation of exhibits.
Aidan Bobik: I’ve most enjoyed learning about the different facets of county government, meeting the people who do the work, and experiencing the unique role that the county plays in our system of government.