Internships and St. John’s College

By Szymon Galazka

Summer holidays are a very important time for Johnnies. First and foremost, the break offers time for reflection. At a place like St. John’s, it seems difficult to do it during the school year – the academic requirements are high and the texts we approach can always be read more diligently and thoughtfully. This makes the break a great breather that gives students room to think about particular texts, their own work in class and the entire academic year generally. Yet summer holidays are also a very busy time for many Johnnies. Some seek job opportunities, others take advantage of summer courses and internships to further their academic and professional knowledge and experience.

This process is highly encouraged by the College, as the students receive support from different parts of our community. The Alumni Office is happy to share is database and reach out to alumni for current students, who may have questions or even approach alumni with genuine work offers. The Careers Services Office, on the other hand, has a much more active role in the students’ interests and applications. The Careers Services staff organizes a number of meetings each week to actively promote different career paths, while also helping students secure funding for their ventures. Moreover, the funding must not necessarily be searched for outside the College. The Hodson (Ariel on the Santa Fe campus) and Pathways Fellowships are two financial grant programs offered by the school to help students secure and fund internship and research positions, as well as attend summer academy courses.

I have myself taken advantage of the opportunities available to Johnnies over the summer by conducting research for a fellow at a political think-tank in DC this summer. It is very unlikely that this opportunity would have been available to me without education at St. John’s because of the education that the Program comes to offer. Secondly, the educational program here, topped by the conversations with tutors and fellow students helped me to grow significantly as a researcher and conversation partner for others.