Meet our Summer Interns from Princeton

As our summer program approaches this July, we wanted to introduce our summer interns who have been working with us thus far. Ben Burns and Megan Specht are both students in Princeton University’s class of 2023, and found us through our partnership with Princeton Internships in Civic Service (PICS). Megan is a declared chemical and biological engineering major and pursuing a certificate in archaeology and art history, while Ben is undeclared but is interested in international relations with a potential certificate in journalism. They will be with us through late July as they complete the 8-week internship. In a zoom call with our Program Lead, Tanner Burgdorf, they each gave us some background info that we could share with you:

Megan is a rising sophomore at Princeton University from Stoney Brook, New York. After her summer trip to Azerbaijan was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic, she received a few emails from PICS and decided to apply to Groundwork. “I found this internship as the perfect combination of continuing that service (from high school) while also being able to improve my technical skills in new areas,” she says. At Groundwork, she is working on developing a public database that allows students to apply to multiple after-school programs in and around Bridgeport in one place (akin to the Common App for colleges). “It will really streamline the process and make it easier on the students,” Megan says. For fun, she played volleyball in high school and continues to play it at the club level in college, and is currently reading Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. Fun fact: she loves going with her friends to sit outside and look at the stars.

Ben is a rising sophomore at Princeton University from nearby New Canaan, Connecticut. He found Groundwork via emails from PICS back in January and decided to apply. “I wanted to do something service related and I thought this would be good since it is close to home,” Ben said, “it means improving the community around me.” At Groundwork, he is working on our social media, helping create posts that further our online presence as well as a newsletter template that can be replicated going forward, both with the goal of better showing ourselves to students, parents, and potential donors. “It’s helped me look at media a different way,” Ben says, “It helps you understand a little bit more that not all promotion is just noise.” For fun, Ben plays club basketball at school as well as men’s league soccer and is currently reading The Book of Basketball by Bill Simmons. Fun fact: he is obsessed with dogs and has two of his own named Bode and Murphy.