This summer, Digital Writing Intern, Jacey Widner, had the opportunity to speak with our hardworking summer interns. Jacey wrote about her own experience as an intern and interviewed our four other interns about their experiences.
Whether you are a student who is curious about internship opportunities or you want to learn our interns’ achievements and reflections, you can read more about their experiences in this spotlight. You can also read more about our internship program, or contact our Internship Coordinator, Dr. Melissa Stone if you have questions about the program.
Jacey Widner
I am a recent English graduate with a concentration in the Rhetoric and Technical Writing (RTW) concentration. I interned as the English Department’s Digital Journalism Intern in both the spring and summer semesters in 2025. Some of my responsibilities in this position included sending out emails to set up interviews with faculty, staff, and students, transcribing interviews, and writing articles and spotlights for the department’s website.
I was interested in this internship because I felt it would improve my skills in editing and proofreading, teamwork, and above all, communication. I was also excited to have the opportunity to publish several writing examples. This internship has challenged me in ways that I never expected. I am a quiet person, so getting used to conducting interviews was challenging at first. But since I have gotten the hang of it my interpersonal skills have grown. Ultimately, I think that this required internship will help me stand out from other candidates when it comes to finding a job.
Lachlan McDougald
Lachlan is in the RTW concentration, and he completed a summer internship with the Old Fort Strong Fund (OFSF). Lachlan has family ties in Old Fort and vowed that he would use his degree to write for nonprofits. A couple of months ago, OSFS hosted an endurance festival to raise money for Hurricane Helene relief. They raised $1.6 million and are now in the phase of distributing this money to families. Some of Lachlan’s responsibilities included meeting with these families to understand how OFSF can help them. As an example of what OFSF has done for families, Lachlan said they recently had a contractor rebuild a wheelchair accessibility ramp onto a home for a resident whose previous home washed away in the hurricane.
Lachlan went into his internship expecting a lot of work behind a computer screen; however, it was marginally less than anticipated. He also said that the internship has challenged his organizational skill because dealing with large amounts of money requires a lot of precise organization. Lachlan said the internship experience has been invaluable because he has been offered employment by OFSF.
Jessie Jung
Jessie is in the Literary Studies concentration, and she completed an internship with Events by Summer Joy, which is a wedding and event planning company. Her responsibilities included assisting in event coordination and execution, communicating with vendors and clients via email and in-person meetings, and working on design and writing projects for specific events. Jessie has been working for this company for a year now and has found a love for wedding and event planning. With her newfound love, she decided to become an intern this summer to further her knowledge of the industry. This internship allowed her to be creative and exercise her writing in newfound ways. With the variety of clients and vendors she communicated with, she discovered sides of wedding planning she didn’t know existed.
Jessie has challenged her to improve her writing and communication skills, and it has pushed her intellectually. As the internship progresses, so does her understanding of the industry. This experience has also been a way for Jessie to exercise her interpersonal skills and make connections in the industry. Jessie believes her English degree will help her stand out from other job candidates because it signals that she is a strong communicator.
Charlotte Isenberg
Charlotte is in the RTW concentration, and her internship is with Collective Power for Reproductive Justice. In this internship she worked on an archival project in partnership with the colleges of Massachusetts. Charlotte interviewed key players in the reproductive justice movement, and documented the timeline from founding leaders to self-managed collectives on college campuses. The archival work Charlotte participated in challenged her to develop important writing and research skills. The combination of developing these skills with pursuing her passion for reproductive justice made the position a dream come true.
As with our other interns this summer, Charlotte’s expectations were well aligned with the work she did, and she received a tremendous amount of support in the position. The internship has encouraged her to think more critically about the various states of reproductive health access, think through solutions with movement leaders, and to make connections with some of the most important people fighting for reproductive justice.
Julieana Pennell
Julieana is in the RTW concentration and her internship is with Safety NetAccess. Her roles with Safety NetAccess included being a junior project manager and a junior technical writer. Julieana assisted with managing business-oriented projects and communicating with customers. She also drafted standard operating procedure documents (SOPs), checklists, and other technical documents that are helpful for team members. Originally, interning with this company was not somewhere Julienna saw herself because it specializes in the network and wifi industry. But when the position was recommended by a friend who interned there previously she decided to explore the opportunity. With this internship, Julieana expected to gain experience working with specialists and experts in the field to learn how to write documents for non-experts. She was pleased and surprised that the realities of the internship met her expectations.
There were a few times during the internship when she felt apprehensive about things where she had limited knowledge; however, the team was helpful and kind when giving her suggestions. Julian said that this internship has challenged her because she hasn’t had a lot of professional experience with public-facing audiences, and she has learned a great deal about customer relations. She has also grown more confident in asking her peers questions to make sure her drafting process is better. As our other summer interns have said, Julieana thinks this internship experience will help her stand out from other candidates on the job market. She even expressed that every degree program should have a required internship because gaining real world experience is irreplaceable.
Written by Jacey Widner
