Internships & Study: Prepare for Next Summer
Compiled by Katarzyna Kozanecka and Rob Luchow
This is the conclusion of Education Update’s list of educational summer activities for New York City students. These programs will still be around next year so save the list.
Pass It On: A Youth Writers Institute is a free workshop that meets daily for three weeks each summer at Lehman College, CUNY, in the Bronx. It gives middle and high school students the chance to write creatively without being graded for spelling and grammar. Instead, students receive feedback from peers and teachers. They write in the classroom and outdoors (in the Botanical Garden, for example). At the end of each week, they make use of a computer lab to revise their in-class writing for the culminating portfolio and class publication. When working writers visit, they teach the students how to generate material through exercises such as free-writes. Last summer’s guests were poet Janet Kaplan and playwright Frank Perez. To further develop their place in New York’s literary community, high school students attended a youth poetry slam at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe and spent an afternoon at Poets House (72 Spring Street), a public open-stack poetry library. For more information, call Tyler Schmidt at 718.960.6737.
For students with an interest in natural, physical, or social sciences, the American Museum of Natural History offers a free two-year program (summers included) in which students are trained to conduct research. Other perks are up-to-date science and technology knowledge, a behind-the-scenes understanding of the museum, mentors, and help with college applications. Women, minorities, people with disabilities, and other groups traditionally underrepresented in science are strongly encouraged to apply. For more information, call or email Noah Burg at 212.313.7171 or hsresearch@amnh.org.
Undergraduate students interested in biological or biomedical careers can participate in
a summer research internship program at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Center. The program runs from May to August and is accompanied by a $3000 stipend. Applications are accepted between November 1 and January31. For more information, email cruzd@mskcc.org.
Metropolitan Museum of Art: Graduating New York City high school seniors can work as paid interns in the museum’s library, curatorial departments, or education department. A strong interest in art and art history, previous work experience, an aptitude for general office work, and good academic standing are helpful. For more information, call 212-570-3961.
Councilman Liu’s Youth Action Team and Political Internship: Every summer, City Council Member John C. Liu, the first Asian-American legislator to be elected in New York City, recruits a team of students with an interest in city politics and public service. Interns spend a minimum of twenty hours a week researching and preparing materials for community events and government meetings, improving the quality of life in Flushing and its surrounding neighborhoods, and interacting with the Councilman’s constituents. For more information, e-mail Lauren Chiang at liunewyork@usa.com. Afshin Mohamadi, Press Secretary for New York Assemblyperson Caroline Maloney, said that summer positions are available for high school and college students in many politicians’ local or Washington D.C. offices. For more information, contact your representative.
The Docent Program of the Wildlife Conservation Society at the New York Aquarium in Coney Island offers high school students the opportunity to act as assistants for the Education Staff. As assistants, students teach visitors and answer questions. They gain public speaking skills and a better understanding of marine life. For more information, call 718.265.3450.
The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, offers hands-on research experience to students interested in marine studies. The Institute offers an intensive summer fellowship program for college juniors and seniors. Whether on the engineering or scientific side of marine study, the program allows students to personalize a research study and assigns them a member of the institute’s research staff as an advisor. The advisor attempts to formulate a study that the fellow can complete in a summer’s work. At the end of the summer, the fellow is expected to compose a written report of the research and present a public oral presentation on the results. For more information, visit www.whoi.edu.#
