Each summer, hundreds of Sewanee students travel across the country—and the globe—in pursuit of the same thing: an unforgettable internship experience.
Thanks to the Sewanee Pledge, which guarantees funding for a summer internship or research fellowship, and support from Career Readiness + Student Success, Sewanee students benefit from unparalleled opportunities to gain firsthand experience in their potential career fields. Whether they were involved in groundbreaking medical research, worked behind the scenes on a marketing campaign, or advocated for social good at a non-profit organization, most students returned from their summer experiences with a few things in common. They got a preview of what their professional lives could look like, made connections to help facilitate their future job searches, and—most importantly—had the chance to connect their talents and passions with the opportunities to put them into practice.
Here is a sampling of how some Sewanee students spent their summers:
Going Beyond the Brief
It was late on a summer evening in Nashville, and Brayden Petras, C’28, was nervous. He was set to give a presentation to executives from one of the country’s most prominent corporations the next morning—and he was going to tell them that they were wrong.
On the Front Lines of Conservation
For many workers, the commute from home to office is an obstacle they’d gladly trade in order to get back more time in their day. But for Eva Purdy, C’28, the commute to his internship this summer was one of the best parts. An intern at the Little St. Simon’s Island Center for Coastal Conservation, Purdy began each day with a 15-minute boat ride through serene marshland to reach his place of work—seven miles of undeveloped beach, where he worked to advance sea turtle conservation and research efforts.
From the Operating Room to the Baseball Diamond
Like many students, Liam Selvido, C’25, sought to make the most of his summer by pursuing an internship. Unlike many students, Selvido didn’t stop at just one. By day, he interned at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida, working in the clinic’s Clinical Genomics Department. At night, he traveled across town and joined the media pool as a team photographer for the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp (the Triple-A affiliate of the Miami Marlins).
The Influencer Effect
Jillian Thurston, C’26, was looking for new experiences when she chose to pursue an international internship in Seoul, South Korea. But she didn’t expect that those experiences would include posing in front of a camera with bright lights and twenty pairs of eyes on her as she modeled for a global cosmetics brand.
Getting the Offer
At the start of the year, many Sewanee seniors are looking for answers to the same question: What am I going to do next year? Marshall Coley, C’25, already has his answer. After a summer spent interning in the Atlanta office of financial services firm Stephens, he returned to Sewanee with what he had hoped to have in hand: an offer to join the firm as an investment banking analyst next year.
The Call of the Wild
Kabir Menon, C’25, spent the summer in the remote environs of Hanson Island, a small island off the coast of British Columbia. There, he braved extreme conditions—including a near-miss with a grizzly bear—to join the OrcaLab research team in their 24/7 quest to observe and learn more about orca whales.
Gridiron Dreams
Jenna Black, C’25, grew up around football. The daughter of a coach, some of her earliest memories are of the sideline scenes at football games. Nearly two decades on, she’s still spending her time on the sidelines of a football field. Only this time, she’s looking for a way to turn her longtime passion into a career.
The Welcome Committee
As a Sewanee student from Paraguay, Nahuel Martinez, C’26, knew firsthand what it was like to leave one’s home country and find a new place in the United States. As a politics and international and global studies major, he had an academic interest in immigration policy. But it was his summer internship with the Nashville International Center for Empowerment (NICE) that gave Martinez a new perspective on the human experience of being a refugee.
Sewanee graduates get the job. Over 95% of each year’s graduating class is employed, continuing education, in the military, or participating in a fellowship or service commitment within six months of graduation. Top career fields include: business, finance, and consulting; education; law; medicine; and environment and sustainability. Review the first destinations data to see where Sewanee alumni launched their careers.
From day one, we’ll work with you to design a four-year experience that connects to your values, meets your goals, and prepares you for a meaningful and purposeful career. You’ll be matched with a career readiness and student success coach, enjoy regular campus events, have access to internships—and funding—just for Sewanee students, and get connected to Sewanee’s 20,000 strong network of alumni who are ready to help you on your way.
Big questions are out there. At Sewanee, we'll work together to find the answers. Faculty from all disciplines—sciences, humanities, fine arts, and more—bring their scholarship into the classroom and create opportunities for students to pursue original research. And thanks to the Sewanee Pledge, students are guaranteed funding for a summer research fellowship or internship with a Sewanee professor or another approved program.
