Bryn Mawr College's Career & Civic Engagement Center and the Department of Environmental Studies have partnered with the Innovation Academy in Germany's "Green City" of Freiburg to offer several paid international internship opportunities for Bryn Mawr students.
Nuha Mohammed '25, a chemistry major, and Clara Schilling '24, a neuroscience major, are interning at Innovation Academy. Clara Grosse '25, who is majoring in environmental studies, is interning at Carl-Schurz-Haus/German-American Institute. This year there were a total of seven possible sites for students to intern.
The internships started in late May and run until early August. Student duties include participating in tours, creating social media and web content, conducting research, and more.
The internships grew out of a partnership Bryn Mawr built with the Innovation Academy in conjunction with the 360° Climate Change: Science & Politics.
Professor Carol Hager, whose scholarship includes the book Germany's Energy Transition: A Comparative Perspective, and who is among the faculty involved with the 360°, became acquainted with the Academy in 2012 when they helped her arrange interviews for a research project. Hager contacted them again when planning the Climate 360° for the first time in 2015 and the group has now been a partner in all four iterations of this 360°.
"Last fall during our stay in Freiburg the Academy told us they wanted to pilot a summer sustainability internship with a few trusted schools, Bryn Mawr among them," recalls Hager. "Thanks to Katie Krimmel and Jennifer Prudencio in Civic Engagement, we were able to get the internship set up for this summer. We were the only school able to do it that quickly, so we are the lone pilot school this year."
Hager says the hope is to expand the number of placements in coming years.
"Many students who have participated in the Climate 360° or who have studied abroad in Freiburg have asked how they could return to learn more about the sustainable city. It's exciting to be able to offer this new opportunity."