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Samantha Giffen
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Every year, the Frederick E. Berry Institute of Politics (Berry IOP) awards scholarships to students pursuing internships in politics and public service. Internships allow students to gain hands-on experiences, develop skills, and explore their career interests. However, internships in these fields are often unpaid or underpaid, which makes it challenging for students to pursue them. Inspired by Senator Berry’s legacy, these scholarships create entry points and break down barriers for all students interested in pursuing careers in politics and public service.
For the spring of 2024, the Berry IOP awarded the following students with a Public Service Internship Scholarship of $2,500. As their internship came to an end, they took some time to reflect on the impact of the experience and the scholarship.
Anna-Marie Alukonis ‘24
Major: Healthcare Studies
Internship: Legislative Intern for State Representative Jessica Giannino
During Anne-Marie’s internship, she held many responsibilities such as conducting legislative research, completing constituent services, and performing administrative duties. This internship helped her in developing administrative, interpersonal communication, and professional skills. Her favorite part of the experience was how “this internship has allowed me to be a part of conversations and meet individuals that I may never have had the opportunity to engage with elsewhere.”
Nina Fuccione ‘24
Major: Media and Communications
Internship: Research Assistant for Public Accountability Initiative
During Nina’s internship, she held many responsibilities such as gathering and organizing research data, analyzing trends and patterns in research data, and maintaining up to date records of research activities and results to be used for future reference. During her time as a research assistant, her favorite part of the job was “developing more understanding of how to input data, how research is actually done and having the ability to work with professionals in the field.”
Angela Gomez ‘24
Major: Social Work
Internship: Family Support Intern at Lynn Family Forward Resource Center
During Angela’s internship, she held many responsibilities including facilitating tutoring groups for Spanish speaking children, coordinating a literacy bonding group for parents and children, assisting clients with oral, reading, and writing translations, and more. This internship helped her develop confidence in her abilities and has also paved the way for her to continue her work in advocating for immigrant families and children in the community that her internship supported. Her favorite part was “getting to work closely with students to help them achieve their functional goals. I enjoyed getting to know the students, and developing treatment plans that were personalized and motivating.”
Sarah Gould ‘24
Major: Master of Occupational Therapy
Internship: Pediatric Occupational Therapist at Londonderry Public Schools
During Sarah’s internship, she had many responsibilities including maintaining a caseload of 15 students with severe special needs and providing therapeutic assessments and interventions aimed at helping those students succeed in the classroom. This internship helped her in learning effective communication and collaborative methods with students, and learning how to teach students with complex needs about self-advocacy. Her favorite part was “getting to work closely with students to help them achieve their functional goals. I enjoyed getting to know the students, and developing treatment plans that were personalized and motivating.”
Ashlynne McNally ‘25
Major: Master of Social Work
Internship: The Salem Teen Center/LEAP 4 Education
During Ashlynne’s internship, she held many responsibilities including assisting kids with assignments, planning activities based around social emotional learning, career interests, and STEM topics, and socializing with students to help them build trust with adults. This internship helped her build her skills in planning and facilitating activities and build her confidence in leading groups and adjusting to their needs. Her favorite part of the internship was how “socializing with these students has given me experience engaging with students who come from different backgrounds than myself and finding commonalities with them. It has made it easier to approach any student in need, regardless if they speak Spanish or English. I think this will be very helpful to my future career and I have loved getting to know these students.”
These scholarships are made possible, in part, through our generous donors. If you are interested in making a donation to support future public service internships, you can click here to make a gift.