The Creative Meets the Professional

Penn’s College of Arts and Sciences has a multiplicity of resources in terms of professional endeavors, even if you want to go the more non-typical creative route, like me. I found my internship this past summer through a Penn-funded program called RealArts@Penn, which is further supported by the Kelly Writers House. Essentially, this program offers a couple handfuls of undergrads internships each year with a select number of amazing creative companies and institutions, such as museums, music studios, and publishing houses. All of which are distributed with a monetary stipend for the summer! It’s a pretty sweet deal in which I was lucky enough to partake.

My internship was with Settlement Music School, a Philadelphia-based community music school for people of all ages and skill levels. I was deemed the Digital Marketing and Community Engagement Intern for them (it’s a long title, I know), which meant I helped with everything from social media to community events. From this experience, I was able to integrate my music background with my professional development and had the chance to learn more about education too. It’s something I would have never thought I would be doing, and it definitely would not be possible without the help of this amazing Penn program. It’s totally possible, and even encouraged, to be your creative self at Penn, even in the workplace.

Karis S, C'18

Traveling Abroad Without Using Your Semester or Summer Time

As a student in the sciences, I often hear people saying, I can't travel because of my major. This is completely false. Regardless your course of study or program you are enrolled in, your ability to travel or study abroad is completely dependent on the effort you make to do so. Aside from the countless programs offered within each major to specifically accommodate students within the course of study, there are plenty of options to study abroad in subjects far beyond the major you pursue at Penn. Among these programs are a variety of summer programs (with a wide range of duration times) that all have financial aid options. If summer is not your thing and you don't want to study abroad, there are classes at Penn that you take during the fall or spring, and then travel during the break following the semester.

For example, two of my friends took the same religious studies class on South Asian Shrines last fall. One was a Operations and Management concentration in Wharton and the other was an Art History major in the college. Their class met for two hours once a week and during winter break they traveled to Thailand, Singapore, and Malaysia to visit some of the shrines they had discussed in their class. In the spring their class continued with a focus on the trip and how it intersected with the material they were taught (it had the same time commitment 2 hours per week). Both my friends absolutely loved the class; this class is just one of many many options available at Penn if you are eager to explore the lesser known options of traveling as a college student.

-Kelli L. '17