Double majoring in American Studies and Computer Science, I see areas where the two subjects overlap as few and far between. This summer, thanks to the Royster Lawton Fellowship, I was able to explore a space where I applied the skills I’ve learned in both American Studies and Computer Science.
When I applied to be a Royster Lawton Fellow, my internship search had stagnated. Most of the companies on my radar wanted their interns to fall neatly into a “humanities” bucket or a “STEM” bucket. I didn’t want to be stuck in either one. Once I was welcomed into the Royster Lawton community, I took advantage of the many advising appointments the Social Entrepreneurship program had set up for Fellows. Talking through my interests and dilemma led me to finally come to a conclusion about what sort of work I wanted to take on. The Social Entrepreneurship staff led me to educational technology, which eventually led me to Personalized Learning2 (PL2).
Personalized Learning2 is a Pittsburgh based organization that is “addressing the opportunity gap for marginalized students through personalized mentoring and tutoring with artificial intelligence learning software.” Spearheaded by Professor Ken Koedinger of Carnegie Mellon’s Human-Computer Interaction Institute, PL2 is the product of education technology research indicating that the human aspect of personalized tutoring is what helps close the achievement gap for racial and socioeconomic groups. PL2 has partnered with community and national organizations like the Boys and Girls Club of Western Pennsylvania and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. With its blend of human aid and interaction with technology, it was the perfect place for me to spend my summer.
I worked with a small team, which allowed me to contribute to a variety of projects at PL2. One of my biggest endeavors was building out the platform’s resource curriculum. It was incredibly rewarding — my work has the potential to help shape how young students interact with and build a relationship to math. In addition to contributing to the team, I learned from everyone I had the opportunity to work with. Not only did my mentors teach me about the intricacies of running an educational organization, but they also gave me advice about graduate school and the human-computer interaction industry.
A pitfall of working as a virtual intern was that it was hard to get to know my coworkers on a personal level. Luckily, the Royster Lawton community stepped up to help fill that gap. During our check-in meetings, I was able to share and process professional experiences with my cohort. It also gave me the chance to get to know a lot of UVA students who I might not have connected with otherwise. With the Social Entrepreneurship team facilitating thought-provoking conversations, Fellows shared unique life experiences and opinions with each other, and we were able to learn both from and about one another.
This summer, with all the uncertainty and chaos of the world looming large, could have been stressful and unfulfilling. Luckily, it was neither of those things. I felt content and supported, in no small part due to the Royster Lawton Fellowship. I couldn’t recommend it highly enough, and would encourage anyone interested in looking for solutions to social, cultural, or environmental issues to apply.