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As a speech therapist's assistant at the Association for the Help of Retarded Children (AHRC) Middle/High School in Brooklyn, N.Y., Katherine De Jesus says her work has been an "eye-opening experience." De Jesus plans to head to a master's program as soon as she graduates, to study for a career in speech pathology. This is her first internship, and it has given her a much greater understanding about autism, as well as about her own abilities to work with and help children with special needs.

The neighborhoods of Shaw and Anacostia in Washington, D.C., each have a complicated heritage of rich tradition and of adversity. In the midst of desegregation and economic prosperity after World War II, the two neighborhoods watched the disappearance of their previous communities, made up of prosperous black elites in Shaw and predominately white members of the middle class in Anacostia. Each area entered a period of real estate devaluation and poverty. In the later part of the 20th century, the government of the District of Columbia initiated an effort to renew Shaw, and steps are now being taken to revitalize Anacostia, as well.

Each year, students from Utica's Thomas R. Proctor High School visit Hamilton for a hands-on science experience. The students are part the Young Scholars Liberty Partnerships Program, a collaborative project between Utica College and the Utica City School District. They spend their time at Hamilton visiting labs, seeing demonstrations (and sometimes doing their own), and listening to talks by some of the faculty. The Hamilton experience is only one part of the Young Scholars program, which provides academic, social and cultural enrichment to students who are identified as possessing the potential for success in academics, but who may not achieve their potential due to social and economic risk factors.

Molecular geometry, or the structure of atoms within a molecule, is an important facet of chemistry because it plays a determining role in the chemical properties of a substance. One of the most common explanations for molecular shapes is the valence shell electron pair repulsion theory (VSEPR theory). This states that electron pairs surrounding a central atom repel each other, and thus try to stay as far apart as possible. This summer, Michael Petrey '09 (Decatur, Ga.) is examining another aspect of the question by looking at similarities between molecular structures and Steiner trees.

When it came to the black vote after the Civil War, Wenxi Li '10 (Acton, Mass.) says, "The Republicans had everything on their side." In the 1860s it was Republican President Abraham Lincoln who had signed the Emancipation Proclamation to free the slaves, while the southern Democrats were pursuing a policy of restricting black rights. However, by 1936, that had changed, Li says, and the Democrat Franklin Delano Roosevelt won the majority of black votes.

As a double major in psychology and interdisciplinary studies, Jessica Salwen '09 (Ridgefield, Conn.) wanted to find a job that would fit her interests and give her some practical experience in research, which she would need for graduate school. She ended up finding not one, but two. Salwen is working as an intern at the Yale Child Conduct Clinic, and is also helping a sociologist at Fairfield University do research for an upcoming publication.

After the contested presidential election of 2000, public attention suddenly focused on the issue of voting policy and reform. In response to the confusion of that election, Congress passed the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) in 2002, which was intended to allow the federal government to organize election administration over all 50 states, modernizing voting equipment and procedures. The changes in election procedure thus make the voting process a mixture of federal, state and local policy.  This summer, Blake Hulnick '09 (Ridgefield, Conn.) is studying how New York State handles election and voting policy by examining HAVA and the subsequent controversy over it.

Caroline Pierce '10 has an internship this summer that is perfect in many respects. She is working as an intern for the Clean Air Council, a non-profit environmental group in Philadelphia. "I'm just really happy to be working on a subject I find interesting," she says, "learning tons about environmental issues as well as how environmental nonprofits work, and doing work that will have an impact in the future."

As an intern at BuildaBridge International, an arts education organization with programs in Philadelphia and developing countries, Kate Hails '10 is learning the business side of nonprofits. Hails works as an intern for Create!Discovery, a program of the BuildaBridge organization that seeks to provide arts-integrated classes during the academic year to children in homeless shelters and transitional homes in the Philadelphia area. Classes such as dance, visual arts, drama, and drumming link the children with teaching artists to expand their artistic, academic, social, and spiritual well-being.

For Kaitlin Britt '09 (Charleston, S.C.), summer research, following a junior year with the Associated Colleges in China program, has been one more step in pursuing a long-held interest. Britt came to Hamilton because of its Chinese language program, she says, and spending a year in Beijing pursuing intensive language study, learning 150-200 characters a day, was exactly the opportunity she wanted. Her developing language skills allowed her to learn more about Beijing, as well. "Being in touch with language helps," she explains, since her knowledge of Chinese allowed her to talk to people herself, rather than basing her opinions solely on what she heard on the news.