Claire Clifford-Langenek ’26 interned this summer at the Public Library of Mount Vernon & Knox County.
When Mount Vernon City Council members had to decide whether to pursue a $20 million grant from the Environmental Protection Agency, they looked to Emily Ewing ’24 to walk them through it during a June public meeting.
“I was so nervous,” the recent graduate said. “I’m not a great public speaker, but it was really exciting. I really enjoyed it, and I was so thankful for my boss to give me that opportunity.”
Ewing spent the summer working for the city engineer’s office — writing grants like the one for the EPA as well as press releases and talking points — after getting her start there as an intern during her senior year.
“It’s such a cool opportunity that I was able to find this through Kenyon,” the English major and studio art minor from Bethesda, Maryland, said. “I love seeing how all this works and getting to meet the people who are trying to make a real change in local communities.“
Ewing is one of at least a half dozen students and recent graduates — three in the city engineer’s office alone — who spent their summers working in Knox County gaining valuable real-world experience. Along the way, they provided essential help to local agencies and organizations.
These high-impact summer opportunities can be traced back to the College’s Community Internship Program through which the Career Development Office provides support to local employers and works to connect them with the student body.
The program — featuring partners recruited by the Office for Community Partnerships — offers students a chance to hone skills for future employment through internships both during the academic year and, more recently, the summer.
“You have really rewarding opportunities here in Knox County,” Dean for Career Development Lee Schott said. “You can get involved in many different aspects of the operation, and I think for Kenyon students that’s really helpful — to understand how an operation works, to see how you can add value, to see how your skills apply.”
The experience for students like Zeena Osman ’25, who interned this summer at the Freedom Center in Mount Vernon, can be particularly helpful as they plot their career paths. Working for a nonprofit that helps those struggling with addiction and mental health disorders has allowed Osman — an aspiring counselor — to learn more about everything that goes into her chosen field.
“You think you just go to (see) a counselor, but there’s so much more to it — assessments that you have to do, questions that need to be asked, insurance, things like that,” she said. “I’m learning a lot from the counselors and getting their advice.”
A double major in psychology and Arabic, Osman’s internship was funded by a gift to the College from Mark and Denise Ramser, local business leaders and philanthropists, to support more paid opportunities for Kenyon students to work with local nonprofits.
Nearby, at the Public Library of Mount Vernon & Knox County, intern Claire Clifford-Langenek ’26 spent much of her summer working with teens, including through a creative writing program, and assisting with grant proposals, donor relations and more. She enjoyed the work so much that it may have impacted her career trajectory.
“Going in and interacting with the kids definitely showed me that I can handle that kind of work in a library setting,” she said. “Without this experience, I don’t think I would’ve considered going into library science, but it’s definitely something I’m considering more now.”
Jamie Lyn Smith-Fletcher ’96, deputy director of development, special projects and writing programs at the library, said that outstanding Kenyon interns such as Clifford-Langenek have become indispensable.
“I could not do my job without interns like Claire, whose flexibility, dedication and willingness to take on tasks large and small keep operations running smoothly for the Public Library's development, special projects and writing programs.”
Meiya Carter ’25 spent a previous summer in her home state interning for City Hall in Newark, New Jersey, but this year she chose to stay closer to campus, working for the Mount Vernon Music and Arts Festival. She wrote press releases and handled social media for the annual festival that took place Aug. 8 - 11 in downtown Mount Vernon.
“I am interested in journalism, and so this program is definitely helpful,” said Carter, an English major with an emphasis in creative writing.
She said she enjoyed working with and learning from industry professionals like Joseph Rinehart, festival board chair, who also is an assistant professor of communication and director of broadcasting at Mount Vernon Nazarene University and an on-air personality for WNZR (90.9 FM).
“This is a great opportunity to make new connections with people,” she said.
Carter hopes to continue the work in the fall during the school year, following in the footsteps of other students who have extended local internships.
These partnerships represent a “win” for everyone involved, giving students an opportunity to put lessons learned in the classroom into practice in a way that noticeably affects the community and adds transferable skills for their future careers, said Alyssa Gomez Lawrence, assistant director in the Office for Community Partnerships.
“We find that what students really, really like about these internships is they can see the changes that they’re helping to make,” she said. “They can see that they’re making an actual, tangible difference.”