Solid grades and a four-year degree are often no longer enough to score admission to a top grad school or
land a plum job after graduation. Today, employers and schools want more from students, and students want more as well. Degrees are important, but so is applied experience. This is where internships—and being a Scripps student—can provide some distinct advantages.
Take Jeany Larsen ’14.
Jeany currently lives in New York and is employed doing research on Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.
A Politics and International Relations major with a minor in geology, she credits her liberal arts foundation, strong relationships with her professors, and Scripps’ internship support for providing her with a shot at a job she never dreamed she’d get.
“I was very supported at Scripps. I received my first internship grant in 2013, when I spent my summer
at the Natural Resources Defense Council New York headquarters. Scripps Career Planning & Resources worked closely with me to secure that internship. They wanted me to succeed. It was very personalized–that was critical to my success.”
Jeany spent her time at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) researching food waste in the American food system. Her summer research directly informed her approach to her senior thesis, which focused on the challenges facing agricultural workers in Oxnard, California.
Scripps’ unique curriculum allowed her to follow her own path: “I could take what interested me. Because of Core, I was prepared to learn more about areas that I found important. Professor Nancy Neiman Auerbach’s class, The Political Economy of Food was a game changer for me. The theories presented in that class came with an internship in the community, which really inspired me to continue to pursue internships related to what I was studying from my freshman year on.”
During the summer after her senior year, Scripps supported Jeany as she pursued another internship, this time with the Northwest Justice Project, a legal services organization in Washington State for low-income individuals, many of whom are agricultural workers. Her experience solidified a desire to continue with agricultural-worker advocacy and to work to level the playing field for farm workers on a national scale.
Jeany applied for a White House internship during her junior year but was not selected. After her internship with Northwest Justice Project, she applied again for the White House Internship and then moved to Argentina. “It was a wonderful experience,” she says “I improved my Spanish and made great friends. Living in another country helped me think about politics on a national scale in the United States.” After several months in Argentina, she learned she had been selected for the internship and moved to D.C. in January of 2015. That experience helped lead her to her current position, working on Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.
Says Jeany, “All of my experiences built on one another. My Scripps-funded internships allowed me to develop relationships with incredibly talented women, all of whom are leading professionals in their fields. Not only could I see myself pursuing similar career paths, but I also had the opportunity to learn how these women lead full lives while working to create a more equal and just world.”
Approximately 82 percent of Scripps students complete at least one internship, but the majority of those internships are unpaid. Scripps’ commitment to internship funding helps many students pursue opportunities that would otherwise be out of reach.
Through the More Scripps campaign, the college is working to leverage alumnae and parent involvement to provide and sponsor internships in partnership with Career Planning & Resources, the LASPA Center, and the Scripps Institutional Advancement Office.
To make a gift to internship grants, please click here. If you would like more information about helping to fund internships, please contact your personal advancement officer or the Scripps Office of Institutional Advancement here.