On-the-job, Online: Bucknell Helps Students Continue Internships Virtually

Political science major Bess Murad '21 is working in the legal arena with support from the Bucknell Public Interest Program (BPIP), which provides a stipend for students who pursue an unpaid internship in the nonprofit or public service sector. And in the age of COVID-19, all this hard work is happening through a screen.

The University has continued the program despite the switch to virtual internships for many students.

Murad, who's working with the Brooklyn Volunteer Lawyers Project to provide free civil legal services to low-income Brooklyn, N.Y., residents, notes that her internship is still as real as can be because her entire organization has been working remotely amid quarantine restrictions. Watching that shift has given her an even more comprehensive view of how the organization operates than she expected from an in-person experience, she says.

"A lot of our clients are below the poverty line, and most don't have access to technology, so it's been kind of a tough transition for the organization. On top of learning how to do an internship remotely, we're trying to figure out how the organization can work that way," says Murad, who is from Jamesville, N.Y. "Watching the industry adapt is a unique experience that no one else has gotten before. As I'm learning about the industry, the attorneys I work with are learning about it at the same time. I feel really immersed in what's going on right now in the industry that I want to go into."