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Fenglin Zhao dreams of a career in finance. A rising sophomore, she decided she wanted to spend the summer working in New York City even if she couldn't land an internship in the financial sector. Fortunately for her, a former employer tipped her off to an internship with his company, International Enterprise Singapore, which Zhao secured for the summer.

When he started his research this summer, Hilary Masuka '09 (Chitungwiza, Zimbabwe) wanted to study the migration between Zimbabwe and South Africa and the experiences of the thousands of people who have risked their careers to cross the South African border. Masuka quickly recognized this topic as too broad for a summer's work and focused his research on the migration of medical personnel from Zimbabwe to South Africa and the effects this movement has had on the health sector, the society, and the economy of both countries.

"It's so refreshing to work in a division where everyone is friends," said Chelsea Mann '09 (Chevy Chase, Md.) of her summer internship. Mann's stories of a relaxed atmosphere, however, disguise the competitive nature of her internship: Mann was one of only 16 students selected to serve as a 2007 intern with the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). She spent her summer working in Washington, D.C. as a marketing intern with the NAHB at their publications arm BuilderBooks.

"My grandfather's experience as a white officer in a black munitions unit in the U.S. Army during World War II was pivotal in shaping his beliefs about the importance of integration and equality," explained Julia Stahl '08 (Salem, Mass.).

"I am often asked the following question: 'Why are you a comparative literature major if you want to go on to become a human rights activist?'" Keya Advani '08 opened her Emerson grant proposal with this statement. Subsequently awarded the grant, Advani set out this summer to explore the potential of literature as an increasingly important vehicle of protest and social change as seen in the contemporary writing of the Indian Dalit community.

Ben Noble '08, a native of LaGrange Park, Ill., is preparing to move from one hill to another. A summer intern in the office of Congressman Peter Roskam (R-Ill.), Noble spent his summer networking, absorbing political savvy, and getting the necessary experience for a potential D.C. employee.

Chris Sullivan ’09 (Shutesbury, Mass.) has a research grant for this summer, but he won’t spend his time in a library. Sullivan, an environmental studies major, has been awarded a Levitt Fellowship to spend his summer traveling across the country on a motorcycle as he researches community-sustained agriculture in the U.S.

Archery Capital, a fund of funds based in New York City, was also a fund for Hamilton students this summer. The office was home for three Hamiltonians: Timothy Foley '06, Xiaobo Ma '09, and Ramunas Rozgys '09 (Naujoji Akmene, Lithuania). Rozgys, whose responsibilities were fluid and varied, enjoyed the environment. "It's like a small family group," he said.

Internships took Hamilton students all over the globe this summer, from rural Vermont to Delhi, India, where Abhishek Maity '08 (Kolkata, India) spent his summer interning with Research and Information Systems for Developing Countries (RIS), a government policy think tank. Maity also had a Levitt Fellowship for the summer to research optimal foreign reserve holdings – a topic which is closely related to his internship.

Although creative writing types tend to be easily stereotyped, Victoria Schacht '08 (Rome, N.Y.) shows that the creative writer, like the field itself, is more complex than the prevailing image of an author in black with a notebook. The English major has an Emerson grant this summer to work on found literature and build creative writing pieces from old periodicals.