The gracious spaces of Yale's Poorvu Center in Sterling Memorial Library hummed with 146 undergraduate and graduate students in early October, who practiced job-seeking skills and explored summer opportunities at the inaugural “1stGenYale Summer Bulldogs Summer Internship Fair.” This is 1stGenYale's sixth year of connecting Yale students to summer internships (309 interns with $1.2 million in Yale-sourced funding from 2020-2024), but this time with an in-person event on campus instead of a managed hiring program operated virtually.
The fair gave students access to employers, practical experience networking and interviewing, and exposure to services available at Yale. "The incredible strength of the 1stGenYale Summer Bulldogs Summer Internship Fair is that it is designed as a holistic career development experience," shared Karin Gosselink, Director, Office of Educational Opportunity (OEO). "Students felt empowered to talk with employers and alumni, and had a great, positive experience that will encourage them to continue to engage and prioritize their own professional development."
The setting was designed to be a supportive and welcoming environment made possible through the collaboration of 1stGenYale alumni volunteers and OEO, and campus partners: Kelly McSergi, Director of Employer Relations, Office of Career Services (OCS); and Iman Ali, Director of Student Engagement.
Fifteen employers, several of whom are alumni or Yale faculty, attended in person, including one who leveraged the technology-enabled spaces to join in a hybrid format. Students met with for-profits and nonprofits who were offering positions in the arts, community services, education, environment, finance, healthcare, politics, tech, and youth & child services, among others. The employers enjoyed meeting the students, and are looking forward to participating next year.
Activities for student success filled out the rest of the entire first floor of the Poorvu Center:
- Three stations of Speed Mock Interviews with alumni
- Personalized Business Cards pick up
- Career Explorations with 1stGenYale alumni
- Resumé Reviews with Iman Ali
- Show Your Strengths and Transferable Skills
- Mindfulness & Confidence for Networking and Interviews
- Q&A with OCS
- Conversations with roving Summer Bulldogs Intern Ambassadors, and OEO FGLI Thrive Community Ambassadors and Peer Mentors.
1stGenYale thanks the seven alumni and two student volunteers who devoted their time and efforts so selflessly: Lise Chapman '81 MBA (Co-organizer; Career Explorations table); Speed Mock Interviewers Hugo Faria '86 (Interview Coordinator), Jackson Higginbottom '20 MPH and Sam Samdani '84; Ann Freedman '78 MHA & MPH (produced 3,000 Student Business Cards and templates for students to make their own!); Ted Jaditz '79 (employer relations support); Barb Protacio '81 (Fair organizer); and Troi Slade '26 and Andrey Sokolov '27 (Summer Bulldogs Intern Ambassadors).
In preparation for the Fair, Joshua Faires, Assistant Director, First-Generation/Low-Income (FGLI) Student Success at OEO, hosted several programs the week before, including "Resume Writing for FGLI Students" and "Reframing Networking for FGLI Students." For next steps, students will continue conversations with employers, move through the hiring process, and apply for any needed funding, with time on their side.
See more photos Here!
As for the Fair host, 1stGenYale Summer Bulldogs is already planning for next fall's Fair. Want to join in?
1stGenYale is looking for potential nonprofit and for-profit employers which would like a leg up meeting talented, smart, and hard-working Yale students. If you'd like to join us in developing our internship fair in 2026, send an email to sb26@1stgenyale.org.
