Interns Vital in Various Industries

Julian Worn, ‘24, arrived at Seattle University from his home in Frankfurt, Germany, intent to play tennis for the Redhawks and major in finance, but the call of his true passion—science—kept nudging him toward a switch. Now he is doing an internship at the Allen Institute.

“I was interested in finance, but the passion was always there for science,” says Worn. “And at some point I just said, ‘OK, I need to follow my heart and go for it.’”

Isabelle White, ‘26, is a transfer student from Highline College, where she played on the women’s soccer team. By following her passion to meld business and creativity, the marketing major landed an internship at Sound Credit Union and is expanding her horizons.

“I never really had a lot of experience with public speaking or just being the face of a company at that event,” White says. “It’s pushing me outside of my comfort zone.”

Isabelle White is spending the summer interning at Sound Credit Union.

Though they are pursuing different career paths, White and Worn are both spending their summers immersed in paid internships. Not only are they learning important skills that are preparing them for their career paths, but also they are connecting with industry leaders who are seeing their capabilities up close.

And despite the cliche about interns getting coffee for supervisors, both White and Worn’s experience shows that internships can be challenging, rewarding and anything but busywork. 

Now majoring in computer science with a business specialization Worn’s internship in the neural dynamics section of the Seattle-based bioscience research institute has him set up on an individual project working to find a way to assist researchers in mapping the brain of a mouse. 

Sounds small—no pun intended—but his contribution to health science could be enormous.

“If we can do that, this simple, tiny mouse brain, then hopefully we can also draw parallels to a human brain,” says Worn, adding that the work of researchers could one day contribute to the development of a treatment for Alzheimer’s disease.

“I love the feeling of getting up in the morning and just knowing you're doing something that will help do something good,” adds Worn, who will graduate in December. 

Carol Lwali, director of SU’s Career Engagement Office, says though internships can help clear a career path, they also can enable students to realize they may not want to follow that path after all.

“And that, too, is very valuable info,” she says.

Lwali’s advice to students is: Don’t wait. Many internships require students to apply several months in advance. Also, first-year students and sophomores need not be juniors or seniors to begin interning. 

For assistance finding an internship, students have access to Handshake, an online recruiting platform that connects employers with students and recent graduates. Or they can reach out to Career Engagement by emailing careerengagement@seattleu.edu.

With White, her experience with Sound Credit Union isn’t just expanding her horizons and seeing the life cycle of a marketing campaign but breathing life into her coursework. She relied on help from the Albers Career Center, saying it provided critical help.

“I'm connecting the dots with material that we've learned in university classes and how it heavily applies to the real corporate world,” she says. “And I think it's really important to have that hands-on experience because it makes everything come full circle.”'Amy Shuey, vice president of marketing for Sound Credit Union and one of White’s supervisors, says when reviewing resumes of job candidates she considers the work experience of interns. 

In part that’s because an internship listed on a resume—even in cases where a particular internship is from a different industry—signals the candidate has been exposed to a professional environment and understands the expectations of being in a meeting, working collaboratively and how to reach out for assistance on a project.

Shuey’s advice?

“Take the internship seriously,” she says. “It can be a great opportunity.”

White appreciates the independence her supervisors have given her, such as during Redmond Derby Days in July. She and another intern rotated shifts at a public-facing booth. She has also had the opportunity to assist in facilitating a financial wellness simulation, where students have the opportunity to make adult decisions regarding finances.

“They really respect us and trust us, too, that we can do the job, and so they involve us,” White says.