Intern Spotlight: Sarah Boghossian

Outreach Internship Builds Skills, Supports Career Exploration

What is it like to be an intern at the Humanities Research Institute (HRI)? We sat down with a few of our student workers to find out. We spoke with Sarah Boghossian (English), HRI's Communications and Outreach intern for 2021–2022. 

Interview by Elena Vara, David F. Prindable Intern

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How do you think more students can benefit from being involved/having connections to HRI?

A lot of undergraduates don’t realize all of the opportunities that are available to them, especially and specifically through HRI. Whether it's an internship, a research opportunity, or even a community event, the information and learning opportunities that HRI offers can cater to a wide variety of interests within the humanities.

What are some current projects that you are working on?

We are talking to interns under the HRI umbrella to gain some insight into what they do from a first-hand perspective. The goal is to get more students interested in a variety of opportunities at HRI. Another major project we are working on, and probably one of the main responsibilities myself and the other HRI intern have, is doing undergraduate outreach and research. We are going to be tabling in mid-April to get people to take our survey, so we can gather data to market humanities opportunities more successfully to undergraduates. Other than that, I have worked on other projects, like social media posts and RSO research.

How has working with HRI influenced your future career goals?

Working in a “traditional” office workspace has taught me general professional skills that I can carry to a variety of fields. I have learned about office etiquette and what it means to be part of a team that’s part of an organization at a large institution. I have also learned what it means to present and share ideas and how our team make these come to fruition.

I know what aspects I would like to see my future career have, and also what may not be the best fit for me. That’s the beauty of an internship at a place like HRI; you get to try on a ton of different hats to see what suits you best. Some may be a great fit, and some may not, and that’s OK because either way you'll learn from your experience and still have fun along the way. The people I work with are great and really make HRI what it is.

If you could give one piece of advice to people interested in working with HRI, what would it be?

You just have to go for it. It is a great opportunity. Like I said before, you get to try out so many different things: from research to project management, and diving deep into what the humanities mean. You really can’t go wrong.

Published 5/11/22