Fall 2019 Internships, Part II

We’ve been spotlighting a few of the many King’s students who complete internships before graduation. Meet some of our internship-holding students below and read what they’ve been learning through their internships. (Part I here.)

  Deborah Goncalves, U.S. Department of State, Indian Health Service

Deborah Goncalves (PPE ’21) interns remotely for the U.S. Department of State, Indian Health Service (IHS) as a Statistics Unit Intern and Translator. After attending a Career Development Roundtable discussion at King’s, Goncalves signed up for a State Department email list. In one of the emails sent by the State Department was information about a virtual internship opportunity with the IHS. The mission of the IHS is “to raise the physical, mental, social and spiritual health of American Indians and Alaska natives (AI/AN) to the highest level.” Goncalves’s role at IHS as the Portugese-speaking intern is to cover native tribes in Brazil.

Due to the political climate caused by Bolsonaro’s presidency in Brazil, Goncalves’s job of finding pertinent information on the native tribes is often difficult. Goncalves has learned how to establish connections between the IHS and NGOs to gather information about the region in order to retrieve meaningful statistics. Goncalves explained a story about a success she had towards the beginning of her internship, in which she “was able to find information on a change in leadership in FUNAI (Brazil’s National Indian Foundation), and thus create a channel for communication between the IHS and different points of contact with FUNAI.” Goncalves explained that it was rewarding to play such a major role in developing the channel of communication which led to a lasting relationship between FUNAI and IHS.

Joshua Verrier, charity: water

Josh Verrier (MCA ’21) is the Executive Assistant to the CEO Intern at charity: water, a non-profit that provides clean drinking water to people in developing nations. When Verrier joined the charity: water team in the fall, he also joined a long line of King’s students and alumni to intern or work for charity: water, which is also the City Service Partner of the House of Bonhoeffer at King’s. Verrier’s job as the intern for CEO Scott Harrison’s assistant consists of helping manage the CEO’s schedule, communicating with key stakeholders, and liaising between the CEO’s office and the marketing and fundraising teams.

Knowing that alumni had worked for charity: water in the past, Verrier felt confident that the organization could be a good fit for him when he applied. In his internship position, Verrier has “witnessed how to execute a project or goal from vision to implementation.” He adds that his interactions with his co-workers and with organizational leaders have taught him how to better communicate with others.

Lauren Davis, Marvel Entertainment

This fall, Lauren Davis (JCS ’20) interned at Marvel Entertainment, the entertainment company responsible for Marvel Comics and the massively popular Marvel Cinematic Universe, as a Special Project Intern. Some of her duties as a Special Projects intern include researching comics to determine when and where characters first appear and assisting in book publishing, editing, and researching.

Davis discovered the internship on LinkedIn and applied through the Disney Internships portal. She was thrilled to receive an interview opportunity which led to an internship offer. When asked about the opportunity living in New York offers, Davis responded, “New York City has everything, and it was one of the biggest reasons in wanting to come to school here. There is so much access… Throughout my time here I have interned with start-ups, non-profits, and of course Marvel Entertainment, a large corporate company. This diversity in companies has taught me so much. I don’t believe I would have gotten the same opportunities I have had if I wasn’t in New York City.”

Since starting at Marvel, Davis has learned how the publishing world works in conjunction with marketing. This spring semester, Davis is transitioning into a Sales Communication and Design Intern position at Marvel Entertainment. She is excited to use more of her design and marketing skills in this new role.

Patterson Tompkins, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon

Patterson Tompkins (MCA December ’19) interned at NBCUniversal’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon as a General Production Intern and an intern to the music department. Tompkins’s responsibilities comprised maintaining the dressing rooms for talk and musical guests, delivering their daily catering, and running errands for staff members on the show.

Tompkins, who has dreamed of working on The Tonight Show since he was in high school, was given an interview opportunity after his resume was passed along by other King’s students who had been offered internships on the show. In high school, Tompkins realized that he’d most easily be able to begin a career in the media industry if he lived either in New York or Los Angeles. Part of the reason Tompkins chose King’s was in hopes of being offered an opportunity like this internship.

While interning at The Tonight Show, Tompkins learned to receive and execute detailed directions efficiently. Although much of his job was performing “simple” tasks quickly and without error, Tompkins says that the high standard of excellence has prepared him to be successful in the media industry. Tompkins notes, “If they can’t trust me to get someone’s lunch order right, why should they trust me with larger responsibilities?”