Ethan who worked at the State of New Mexico Office of Science & Technology
"Santa Fe is truly a beautiful city. For those not familiar with it, the culture can be very strange and even hard to find, but it’s worthwhile to experience. My favorite part was by far the landscape. Northern NM offers fantastic hiking, and I saw some of the most beautiful country of my life this summer. If you travel at all, you see a very active and kind population. Everywhere we went, people had suggestions for the next place to go, and the hikers were some of the nicest people I’ve met. Going up Kitchen Mesa with Gary was by far my favorite trip of the summer. We got up early and were out there before the heat. Every section of the hike offered a new and stunning vista. And it was not very long, so we spent as much time as we needed to fool around and take pictures. Looking over Abiquiu Lake from the top was a fantastic experience that I can carry with me the rest of my life."
Gary who worked at the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum
"I made art, I made a difference, I made money – this summer was wonderful. You know you had a great summer experience when you come home ready to go to school. I often felt like I was both working and on vacation at the same time, and felt productive and relaxed, which is a great combination. I also feel like I’m coming away with a strong understanding of a different world (as I’d been traveling the world), but also profoundly feeling like I’d made a difference in America, and helped make a small change in a city where, as far as education goes, change is so very necessary...My mentor Alex was amazing – in some ways, he was just as important if not more important than the Yale students in giving me a social foundation in Santa Fe. I spent a lot of time at his house with him and his partner Yon, which always felt like I was with family."
Here's what other interns have to say about their experiences with Bulldogs Across America:
I participated in Bulldogs in the Bluegrass as a summer residential counselor at a treatment facility for 105 boys who have been severely abused or neglected by previous caretakers. First of all, perhaps I was a little crazy to take on such a demanding position as only a freshman in college, but it may have been one of the most enriching decisions I've made in my short life thus far. I remember speaking with Ann Curtis prior to coming to Kentucky , and I expressed a slight bit of hesitation with the situation I had just put myself in. Ann provided incredible comfort, having seen other students take on this challenging position, and afterward, I knew that I wouldn't renege on my choice. My job ended up teaching me so much. While counseling may not be my chosen forte, last summer was essential in teaching me about my strengths as a person. It taught me that I thrived on personal interactions, which has been a key factor in leading me to a career in medicine. I remember each boy's story of his appalling past, and the small, but significant, successes that he made during my time there. It's rare that such opportunities like Bulldogs are available to freshmen and sophomores, who are often left to their owndevices over the long summer. Over those four months, I learned how intricate relationships can be, and how danger and crisis bring out the best (and worst) in people. Compared to many of my friends, my stories of summer were the mostcoveted. I never had a wasted day, and while some days were harder than others, I knew that I was doing good for someone. Beyond the actual employment aspect of the program, Bulldogs brought me three of my closest friends at Yale, whom I never would have had the opportunity to meet otherwise. While my year may have been unusually lucky to have had such wonderful people, I know that all of us were so excited to be in Louisville . I know this because that's the type of people the program attracts--driven, curious, and light-hearted people. Discovering that we love a city that none of us had any initial solidified faith in was a binding experience that we all continue to value. Two students in my year even remained in the city to work after Yale, and our regular contact lets me know that they love it there.
*****
As a rising senior, I knew going into this year that this past summer would be among the most important. Not only would it cement where I would go career wise, but would also be my last summer to explore and expand what I might possibly want to do with my life. As a pre-law Political Science major, it had almost been guaranteed that I would go with some legal internship, as was evidenced by my cemented offer from a DC legal reform organization. However, something about the Bulldogs in the Bluegrass experience drew me in. Louisville , KY I thought to myself, this is almost too unreal to pass up! As a person who prides myself on my travels, I knew that not only would Louisville expand my horizons, but would also automatically guarantee a summer internship like none I had ever experienced.Looking back, I wholeheartedly stand behind my choice! Working at the American Printing House for the Blind, I was introduced to new people and environments that I would never have been able to fathom. Going on program excursions ranging from Churchill Downs to nature reserves, I was able to cherish not only my job but the entire KY atmosphere itself. I feel that the Bulldogs program is imperative for not only providing Yalies with quality summer internships, but also giving them an outlet to go outside their comfort zone and challenge their preconceived notions of other areas and even of themselves.
The Bulldogs by the Bay program has provided me an invaluable opportunity to build skills, immerse myself in the world of high-tech marketing, and build longlasting friendships with current Yalies and alumni. Thanks to the Bulldogs by the Bay program, I am working as a Marketing Analyst at oDesk, a rapidly growing Internet startup in Menlo Park , CA . I cannot fully convey how exciting it is to have a job that offers so much responsibility and teaches me so much about the dynamic world of high-tech startups. Without the Bulldogs by the Bay program, I would be hard pressed to find such an opportunity, especially as an Ethics, Politics, and Economics major halfway through college.
Just as much as I value my work experience this summer, I will treasure the opportunities I have had to meet other Bulldogs by the Bay interns and alumni. While sailing on the San Francisco Bay thanks to Steve Graham's generosity, or hiking up Mt. Tam to watch the fog roll in over the valley, I have forged relationships that I expect will last a lifetime. The opportunity to meet such colorful and successful Yalies as Kirk Casselman is something no other internship program could have offered.
****
Bulldogs in the Bluegrass provided me with one of the most memorable summers of my life. I remain impressed at how the Yale alums in Louisville reached out to welcome us with tours of the city, mentorship and delicious southern grits. I think often of the summer-- not just the many explorative trips to the Derby and Kentucky wilderness, but the eye-opening job I had working with adults with severe mental handicaps.
Hi! My name is Ofelia Canals . I am a rising junior in Calhoun College and I was part of Bulldogs by the Bay this summer. I really doubt that I can do justice to the remarkable experience that I had through an email, or even through words in general. However, I'll do my best. For six weeks I was a teaching intern at Head Royce School in Oakland California as part of their annual summer enrichment program. Their program is mostly aimed at giving public school kids from 6th to 9th grade an opportunity to learn in a different environment than they are used to and prepare them for the upcoming school year. I had always thought I might be interested in pursuing a career in education, but had never had the opportunity to truly get a taste of what it would be like to teach. After this summer, I can honestly say that I am certain teaching is something I want to do. The job was hard, seeing as how teaching kids is difficult and tiring. However, I can't think of a more fulfilling job. I learned so much about myself during the six weeks I taught. Apart from designing my own course (since culinary arts was not something they had done in the past), I had the huge benefit of having other bulldogs by my side. We were an amazing group and the friendships we formed will definitely carry on once we get back to school.
Being a Bulldog was one of the most influential and enriching in my life thus far. I had thought that I would go on to law school after college. But my internship at LG&E (now E.ON-US, post acquisition by E.ON) quickly changed that and set me on a path to where I am now. From the very beginning, my manager gave me a lot of responsibility. He was willing to trust me, a mere freshman at the time, and depend on me to do a good job. And I did. I owe the Bulldogs program a lot. It was a solid stepping stone to my potentially bright career in the financial services industry. I was able to leverage my experience at LG&E to obtain an investment banking internship in Beijing last summer. Now, I am proud to say that next year I will be a member of the incoming analyst class at Deutsche Bank.Looking back, I have come to realize that the Bulldogs program is one of the few programs that provides young, inexperienced Yalies like myself two years ago the opportunity to gain truly meaningful work experience and develop professional credibility. Ultimately, that is what makes the program and its alums, if you will, so successful.
The Bulldogs in the Rockies Program provided me with the chance to learn about financial markets. I maintained complex spreadsheets that tracked the companies holdings, performance, and investment decision support models. While I was new to the Asset Management industry, my internship provided me with a great opportunity to learn and develop important people, professional, and techincal skills. Now having learned software like Excel, Bloomberg, and E-Signal and acquired the ability to interpret the data I find, I am well equipped to take on an Analyst position at a financial institution. Very rarely does a Sophomore, or even a college student in any year for that matter, get the type of experience that I received. During this summer I learned a lot about myself, and what I am capable of. The thought of waking up at 5:45 every morning for a 12 hour work day would never have come across my mind. This summer, I stepped up to the challanege and embraced that. Consequently I found myself learning a lot and looking forward to working the next day. I also enjoyed having fun living with fellow Yalies; Denver was a vibrant city and provided a great environment for me to interact with my peers. From the wonderful restaurants to the great outdoors, Denver was fantastic in every possible way. Thank you so much for making this possible; I cannot emphasize how much this experience will help me in my future endeavors and I am very grateful for the lessons I learned and all the fun I had. I went to 7 Denver Rockies baseball games, which is the most I've ever done (since in Canada, the only team is located in Toronto); when I mentioned on the first day that I was a big baseball fan, I ended up getting tickets from left, right, and center. The seats I had were fantastic: in the club section to the right of home plate, and right behind home plate 11th row. I saw some great games including a 9th inning comeback by the Rockies (6 unanswered runs) against the Phillies who had been red hot; after seeing that game, I'm never counting a team out until the game is over. My most memorable game was when my mentor and I went to see the San Diego Padres and we were treated to an overall great game where we close to a foul being caught. Many of the other Rockies interns got a chance to go to some of the games. A law firm treated everyone to a game in their box early in the summer, and Joseph Smith was kind enough to give tickets to mulitple series over the summer.
I spent this summer in Minneapolis with the Bulldogs Across America program, interning at Headwaters Foundation for Justice, which awards grants to community and progressive groups in the Twin Cities area. I was in contact with dozens of nonprofit groups and learned a lot about how they function and interact with each other. I probably would not have been able to have an unpaid internship or pay rent in another city, so the program is the only way I could have worked where I did. Working in the social justice communityclarified my academic goals and convinced me to become more involved in the social justice community at Yale. The activities arranged by the alumni also made the city much more welcoming. We spent weekends driving tractors on Minnesota farms, boating around lakes, and most memorably, getting caught in a thunderstorm while canoeing on the St. Croix River . I am especially grateful for Bulldogs on the Lakes towards the end of the program, when I had a severe allergic reaction that included multiple trips to the emergency room. When it became clear that I was allergic to something in the house where all the interns stayed, the program coordinator found me a new place to sleep with just a few hours notice, drove me to clinics, and arranged to ship my extra boxes to Colorado when I left early to go home and recover. I’m not sure what I would have done without the help. I feel incredibly lucky to have been involved in Bulldogs Across America, both for the experience and for the people who helped me when I needed it. I would love to participate in the program in the future, and I will definitely recommend it to all my friends at Yale.
Going into the summer, not only had I never been to Louisville before, I barely knew any of the other students who were participating. Furthermore, as an American Studies major, I knew little about careers in the IT industry, yet the Bulldogs program helped me secure a job doing IT work for GE. During my summer in Louisville I learned my way around an unfamiliar city, enjoyed having the most challenging and rewarding internship of my college career, and I made wonderful friends who enriched my final year at Yale when we returned to New Haven . Bulldogs in the Bluegrass also opened my eyes to the power of the Yale alumni community. I was taken aback by the diverse group of Yale alumni who both provided us with career guidance and welcomed us into their homes that summer. They had established a very impressive support network based on their connection to Yale, which made me realize that the Yale alumni community could become an important asset to me throughout my post-college life, wherever I ended up living. I believe the Bulldogs summer programs nurture the growth of these communities in a way that few other activities can or do.
I participated in Bulldogs in the Bluegrass in 2001, when I was a rising junior at Yale. I didn't realize it at the time, but the experiences I had there started me down my current career path of medicine. I worked at a private foundation in Louisville and part of my job was to teach ESL and GED classes to refugees one day a week. I loved these classes and continued to teach ESL in New Haven when I came back from studying abroad the next year. Six years later, I'm about to start my second year of medical school at Cornell in New York City . I've spent the summer doing a health literacy fellowship through Mayor Bloomberg's office, teaching English and literacy classes to immigrants and illiterate Americans. That early teaching practice I had in Louisville helped me to feel comfortable in my classrooms this summer, and this allowed me to learn about health issues and communication strategies for patient populations I will soon be serving as a doctor. I am so grateful for the experiences and support I received that summer in Kentucky .
There are a lot of stock phrases that could be used about "making connections" and "thinking outside the box," but I think something that is not often discussed about this program is its sheer practicality. Even for someone like me, who did not choose to relocate to Louisville, this program sets in motion a thought process that Yale does not always actively engage: what to do upon leaving Yale, and perhaps most importantly: how to do it. In fact, I think the "what" might be an ever-evolving thing for many people, but if you ave already encountered some of the resources available to you, post-college life is a lot less confusing. I have yet to read the little handbook I was given upon graduation, but Rowan's example and the people I met through his program have proven themselves an invaluable set of lessons.
I graduated in 2005, and I am now actively engaged with my local Yale Club, the ASC, and the AYA. I was impressed by the Bulldogs program as a student- in fact, relieved to find that a program like this existed and would accept a lowly freshman--but I am even more impressed by the program as a graduate. It shows that Yale graduates care about Yale students and how they are going to get involved with the world. I doubt I would be so actively involved as an alumna had I not learned early on what a fantastic network of people existed outside of New Haven .
As I was driving back from the Summer on the Cuyahoga closing reception last night, I was hit by an emotion I hadn’t expected: Nostalgia.
I am not implying that I somehow disliked my summer in Cleveland , or that was I was expecting a wave of relief upon crossing the Ohio/Indiana border on my drive back to Minnesota . I am, expectedly, very upset to be leaving the wonderful people I’ve met this summer. I am sorry to say goodbye to my outstanding alumni hosts, who truly treated me like a member of their family in taking me out to movies, letting me play with their adorable puppy, and inviting my friends over for dinner at their house. It’s hard to bid farewell to the various alums who sponsored events and welcomed me into their homes to discuss everything from career choices to hot clubs in Cleveland . Most of all, I don’t want to leave the bright, fun, and ambitious SOTCers with whom I’ve shared these last 10 weeks. Even after two and a half months together, I wish there were more time to get to know all of them, especially my new friends from the other participating colleges.
What I hadn’t expected while driving through the city that last time was nostalgia towards the place that had played the backdrop to it all. At every street corner, at every block, I saw myself. “Two weeks ago I had sushi at that restaurant with an alum from McKinsey… 6 weeks ago I volunteered at a technology festival that was held on this street. The couple in charge of our booth randomly took us out to dinner when they found out who we were…9 weeks ago I got lost trying to get to that amphitheatre across the river. When we finally got there and asked who was singing, the woman behind the ticket counter replied, ‘umm… it’s a fight.’”
So, while the memories revolve around the people, they’re anchored in the place. They’re tied to Jacob’s Field, Little Italy, and Whiskey Island . They’re rooted to the 24-hour Giant Eagle, and the giant alum’s houses on Fairmont . They’re embedded in the city, in Cleveland .
I was initially drawn to the Bulldogs program by the interesting job offerings and the chance to live in a new place, but I could not have anticipated what a phenomenal summer I would have in Denver . My internship itself was simply fantastic—I had the opportunity to learn a great deal about private equity and finance in a supportive, friendly environment. The housing accommodations at Brooks Towers were conveniently located downtown and in close proximity to our internships. Beyond work experiences, we were very fortunate to have many fun activities, panels, and trips (rafting, hiking, meeting with the mayor, just to name a few) planned for us by the wonderful Colorado Yale Association. All of these events allowed us to get to really know Denver and enjoy all that it has to offer. I believe that one of the most valuable aspects of the program was the opportunity to interact with Yale alumni in a non-academic setting and learn about their lives and career paths. This entire experience has truly exceeded all my expectations, and I feel that I have learned an immense amount—not just about finance, but also about a new region of the country.
The Bulldogs on the Cuyahoga program instilled in me a strong sense of allegiance to Yale thanks to the incredibly generous and warm-hearted alumni. The summer internship program showed me that Yale extends far beyond the city of New Haven, and that my commitment to Yale extends FAR beyond my four years here as an undergraduate. Probably the most memorable event from the summer was one night in which we had a "progressive dinner," in which all of the Bulldogs joined one alumnus for appetizers, then moved to another Yalie's house for the entree, and ended up at yet another person's house for desserts. By the end, I remember that we had Yalies of all ages sitting outside under the stars eating cake and having great conversations. Because of generosity showed to me, I hope to do the same for Yalies of future generations, and I am quite excited to join the alumni community after I graduate. Speaking as a current undergraduate, I think that the Bulldogs across America programs are fantastic ways to show how Yalies can stay involved with the greater Yale community after graduation no matter where they are.