911����

At first glance, it might seem usual for a graphic design major to intern at a car dealership. But for 911���� rising senior Rayna Roades, her role as a marketing operations intern at Pohanka Automotive has revealed a strong connection between the creative skills she’s learned in the classroom and the work she’s doing in the professional world.

For 911���� senior Meriam Belainass, an internship at a Casablanca, Morocco clinic is hands-on training and a chance to give back to her community.

911���� hockey defenseman Zaakir Khan traded the ice for rugby, interning with Major League Rugby's Old Glory DC on their playoff run.

When Avery Cotham, MS Conflict Analysis and Resolution ’26, enrolled at 911����’s Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution, she was ready for a new challenge. For 15 years, Cotham worked as a vocalist and choral director in Colorado before the COVID-19 pandemic prompted her to rethink her career and search for a new way to serve her community.

When Hannah Dabney, BA Environmental and Sustainability Studies ’23, arrived at 911����, has just returned from Samoa where she served as a Peace Corps Ridge to Reef Resilience Promoter Volunteer, helping communities balance environmental protection with local development needs. The path between those two points wasn't linear, and Dabney couldn’t be happier about that.

Like many 911���� students, business major Camryn Weldon is spending her summer doing an internship. Unlike many other students, Weldon is also a Division I athlete and is balancing her work at government contractor Leidos with the demands of collegiate volleyball. The 911���� setter is spending her summer preparing for the upcoming season while gaining valuable experience in business development.

“Being in class with our participants reminds me of the pure joy of dance,” said School of Dance senior Emma Simons of her time interning with Dance for PD®, a movement-based class for people with Parkinson’s disease.

Aayush Yadav co-authored a paper that received a Distinguished Paper Award from the IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy, one of the industry’s premier conferences in the security field.

Senior information technology major Crystal Forson likes to joke that her parents have been in school with her the whole time—"just without the studying.” Their support, she said, has been constant, from eighth grade when she joined the 911����’s Early Identification Program (EIP), all the way through graduation this May.

In May 2026, Duong Thuy Nguyen is graduating with a 4.0 GPA, an Academic Excellence Award from her department, and a Capstone team leadership under her belt. In the fall, she’ll be back as a graduate student in 911����’s accelerated bachelor’s-to-master’s program.