Sydney Williams, c/o 2025
This summer Sydney Williams, a rising junior, is participating in an 8-week HBCU internship at Eskenazi Hospital in Indianapolis, Indiana. During this program, Sydney is serving as an intern in the Trauma Unit and Emergency Department, where she shadows and works hand-in-hand with surgical residents, and general and trauma-certified surgeons. She has the opportunity to observe surgeries, surgeons, and minimally invasive procedures and assist with rounding on trauma patients.
Sydney is a returning intern of this program; in the summer of 2022, she was an intern in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit department, where she gained experience in the medical field by shadowing and assisting medical professionals such as neonatologists, NICU nurses, and pediatric residents in medical procedures, and programming medical machines. She assisted with the daily feeding of infants and providing them with medication. Through this program, she developed personal skills by participating in staff meetings, patient discharge rounds, and emergency simulations. She was seen as a significant asset to the department by helping to reimplement “Cuddle Buddies.” A program that allows volunteers to hold and nurture newborns when parents are not available or present. Sydney aspires to be a General Surgeon with Trauma certification. Participating in a program such as this allows her to gain more medical and scientific knowledge as well as allow her to participate in patient care. By working alongside the physician residents and staff physicians/nurses, she has been able to be “hands-on” and further her opportunity to explore the depths of medicine that she is interested in pursuing as a career. Sydney recognizes that there is a lack of Black physicians, specifically Black female Physicians. Consequently, Sydney wants to serve her community, and programs like this allow her to “get a foot in the door” and advocate for the best care for all patients.
Savannah Woodson, c/o 2026
This summer Savannah Woodson, c’o 26, has been interning with Smarthistory, a non-profit organization dedicated to making art and cultural history more accessible to the public. Smarthistory is partnered with Khan Academy and has created more than 800 videos and 2,000 educational essays for college and high school students taking AP Art History. Savannah has been working on her own educational video of a painting, which explores the practice of divination for older Black-American women and how it helps them gain economic freedom.
Ana Villavasso, c/o 2026
Over the summer Ana Villavasso worked in a variety of lucrative part time jobs and internships. For the month of June, she was able to work as a Museum Services Intern for the Spelman Museum, where Ana converted multiple of the museum’s platforms to digital databases accessed from the museum’s new iPad. She also worked as an Art Instructor throughout the summer, where she taught children ages 5-8 a variety of techniques from a diverse array of artists include Njideka Crosby, Cori Lin, Joan Hill, Amy Sherald, Diego Rivera, and more. Finally, during the evening hours, she worked as a Creative Engagement Coordinator for a youth activism-based non-profit and is still fulfilling this role. In this role Ana creates sustainable projects and artistic expressions that help engage high school and college students in political activism and promote the vision of the non-profit.
M’Kenzie Lumas-Harmon, c/o 2025
This summer M’Kenzie Lucas-Harmon was granted the opportunity to intern with Target, where she worked with the Owned Brand Product Design team. This team designs products for the Home department and are tasked with designing products for the Harth & Hand brand that will be released for Christmas 2024! As a member on this team, M’Kenzie was able to learn all about the process of how a product transitions from the idealization stage to the store shelf for consumers. The best part of this experience and working on the team for M’Kenzie has been the autonomy and creative freedom to design her own product with guidance and feedback from her supervisor!
As one of Target’s summer interns, M’Kenzie was invited, along with her peers to the headquarters in Minnesota, where they spent a week meeting with the corporate office staff, participating in workshops related to the various departments within Target, and networking with fellow interns and corporate staff. This fall, M’Kenzie is happy to switch gears and increase her knowledge and understanding of what diversity, equity, and inclusion looks like in the corporate world. She’ll be working as a fellow in the Atlanta Falcons and Wells Fargo partnership HBCU Fellowship program. This program will allow HBCU students to gain access to experience in brand partnerships and engagement as well as mentorship and networking opportunities. M’Kenzie’s future career goals are to enter into either the sports or entertainment industry as a Marketing professional. The professional and social experiences that she has gained access to as a Spelmanite have no doubt, aligned her with the appropriate path that she needs to be on for success!
Nosharai Harris, c/o 2025
This summer, Nosharai served and learned in communities throughout Oaxaca, Mexico. For a month, she spent her time assisting in laboratories and clinics. In addition to taking a Spanish-speaking course at a local institution, Anahuac University. In the clinics, Nosharai learned how to draw blood samples, interact with patients in English and Spanish, and send results to doctors to relay to patients. While assisting in the laboratories, she collected various bodily samples to test and identify infections and diseases. They also allocated time to become certified in First Aid.
Nosharai also had the opportunity to visit the village of Zapotalito to connect with the locals. Nosharai and her peers distributed toys to children throughout the village. The big smiles and hugs made her day and highlighted the importance of giving back to the community. The experience of living in another country allowed her to gain a deeper understanding of a new culture, develop new friendships, and explore new places. As a result of this opportunity, Nosharai have developed lifelong friendships with some of the most incredible individuals. Most importantly, she has learned to appreciate the small things in life.
A message from Nosharai to Oaxaca: “To Oaxaca, Thank you for welcoming me with open arms and teaching me so much. I plan on embarking on similar journeys in the future.”
Kaela Hawkins, c/o 2026
Kaela Hawkins, C’2026, International Studies major, spent an exciting summer working as aSummer Fellow for the Presbyterian Church’s Ministry at the United Nations (PMUN) for the months of June and July 2023. This summer fellowship aligned with Kaela’s interest in Gender Equality and Justice as well as Migration and Refugee Policy.
Kaela participated in UN meetings and observed several committees as the organization is active in Global Peacemaking efforts. Kaela was one of five Summer Fellows serving in the 
Presbyterian Church (USA). She was the only Fellow working with PMUN while four others were assigned to the Washington Office of Public Witness working on Federal Public Policy issues.
Kaela fulfilled several areas of responsibility during her summer fellowship. She did major research on child soldiers and urged participation in the Global Red Hands Campaign. For several decades the lives of countless children around the world are being taken and terrorized and forcibly recruited as child soldiers. Several countries, especially on the continent of Africa, regularly participate in the heinous practice of kidnapping children and forcing them to take up arms.
Additionally, Kaela started the background work on gender-based violence by creating a spreadsheet of the policies by the PC(USA) concerning gender discrimination and gender-based violence. Kaela was also able to bring a new life to the PMUN Instagram account by creating informational graphics on relevant PMUN topics such as International Day of the Tropics (June 29) and a breakdown of topics the UN High-Level Political Forum discusses.
While Kaela worked remotely for much of her summer fellowship, she had the opportunity to spend two weeks in New York City at the PMUN office. She was given credentials and had daily access to the UN. During this time she was able to attend a major event at the UN, the High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) – a two week event that evaluates UN’s progress on Sustainable Development goals.
Lauren Legardy, c/o 2025
This summer, Lauren had the privilege to work with Johns Hopkins University in their 2 week Summer Business Academy. During the program, Lauren’s team competed and won 1st place in their CVS Pharmacy Case Competition addressing how to increase their community outreach efforts nationwide. Lauren then interned at J.P. Morgan on the Advancing Black Pathways Fellowship on the financial advisor track. She had the chance to shadow PA’s creating personalized portfolios for clients targeting their long term financial wealth goals. Additionally, her team of fellows worked on a strategic partnership project with a native Atlanta bank to grow their assets from $930 million to $1 billion within the next 5 years.