Generously funded by the SECU Foundation, the SECU Public Fellows Internship Program provides 20 NC State students with paid summer internships at nonprofit organizations and government agencies in rural North Carolina counties. Through these experiences, students contribute to organizations serving rural communities while gaining hands-on professional experience, developing career-ready skills and exploring how their academic interests can translate into meaningful careers.

Recognized as a Packways High Impact Experience, the SECU Public Fellows Internship Program intentionally incorporates learning, reflection and application throughout the summer. Interns are encouraged to make connections between their academic learning, professional experiences, career goals and the communities they serve. 

This summer, NC State’s Career Development Center partnered with the Data Science and AI Academy to add another dimension to the internship experience through a data-focused mini research project. Built around the idea that data science is for everyone, the project challenged each intern to identify a question or problem connected to their internship and explore how data could be used to better understand it. 

With support from their internship supervisor and a Data Science and AI Academy graduate mentor, students worked with real-world data relevant to their host organizations. Depending on the organization’s needs and available data, projects could be qualitative or quantitative and included creating data visualizations, identifying patterns and relationships, examining gaps in existing datasets and analyzing the effectiveness of organizational programs or initiatives.

Beyond building technical skills, interns gained experience identifying meaningful questions, working through complex problems and translating information into insights that could be communicated to others.

From EMS Calls to Rural Health Insights

For Clara Pinella, a Human Biology major, the experience meant combining her interest in health with an opportunity to better understand the needs of a rural community.

Pinella spent the summer as an Emergency Medical Technician with Suttontown EMS, a volunteer emergency medical service in Sampson County. After earning her national EMT certification in January, Pinella was looking for an opportunity to explore her interest in rural medicine. At Suttontown EMS, she responded to 911 medical emergencies and gained hands-on patient care experience.

“My time as an EMT has further solidified my desire to give back to communities in need,” Pinella said. “This internship helped me better understand the intricacies of the health disparities facing rural communities.”

Her data mini-project, Bless Your Heart: Rural Health Insights Using Suttontown EMS Call Data, allowed her to use data to examine those disparities from another perspective. Pinella analyzed 1,777 EMS calls from 2017 through 2025, grouping them into categories ranging from trauma and medical illness to psychiatric, respiratory and cardiac calls. Her analysis identified several trends, including changes in traffic accidents and breathing problems during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as patterns that could warrant further investigation.

“This analysis may highlight the areas of need in Sampson County and potentially other rural communities,” Pinella said. “By gaining a greater understanding of what rural communities need, we can implement policies to improve resource allocation and EMS training.”

For Pinella, the summer also reinforced her desire to pursue medicine while giving her greater confidence in her ability to navigate challenging situations.

“Professionally, I am now more certain in my pursuit of a medical career and feel a deeper calling to serve rural communities,” Pinella said. “Personally, this experience taught me that I can do hard things.”

The experience left her with new questions about the kind of physician she hopes to become and how she can address health inequities in the communities she serves.

“I’m leaving Suttontown with more questions than answers, but I’m learning that’s actually a good thing,” Pinella said. “And while I walk away from this summer with much to explore, I am also so inspired.”

Using Data to Support Wildlife Conservation

Ty Easter, a Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Biology major, spent the summer as an environmental educator at Hanging Rock State Park, where his internship provided an opportunity to apply his academic interests in a real-world conservation setting. 

For his data mini-project, Timber Rattlesnake Deaths at Hanging Rock State Park, Easter explored an issue directly connected to wildlife management and conservation at the park. 

The project also connected him with an expert herpetologist and gave him insight into how wildlife research is conducted in a professional setting. Through developing and presenting his project, Easter strengthened his mapping and science communication skills while gaining a better understanding of how data can be used to investigate real-world environmental issues. 

The broader internship experience also helped Easter learn more about what he wants from his future career.

“The most valuable part of my internship was having the opportunity to find myself,” Easter said. “I was able to figure out what aspects of my career I enjoy and do not enjoy.”

One of those discoveries was the importance of working directly with others.

“I learned how much I value human interaction,” Easter said. “I cannot sit in an office for the majority of my work. Ideally, the majority of my time is spent in human interaction.”

The experience also strengthened Easter’s interest in research and confirmed that he wants to continue working in an environmental field. He is now considering pursuing a Ph.D. focused on studying injustices and plans to apply to Research Experiences for Undergraduates programs.

“This experience has assured me that I definitely belong in an environmental field,” Easter said. “It has also encouraged me to further pursue research.”

Turning Experience into Impact

At the conclusion of the summer, interns transformed their research into posters and shared their findings at the SECU Public Fellows Internship Program Showcase, giving them an opportunity to reflect on their experiences, communicate their findings and connect their work to real-world challenges facing rural North Carolina communities. 

For Pinella, the Showcase extended the impact of her research beyond Suttontown EMS. 

“It was empowering to hear others’ responses to my project — it seems that EMS and rural health inequities are topics that hit close to home for many,” Pinella said. “The Showcase allowed me to spread awareness about rural health inequities and ignite conversations about improvements in care. A simple conversation may be the catalyst for change.”

Members of the Suttontown EMS team also attended the Showcase, giving Pinella the opportunity to share what she had accomplished with the people who supported her throughout the summer.

For Easter, presenting his research helped him articulate what he gained from the summer and how he can communicate that experience moving forward. 

“It helped summarize and allow me to articulate the benefit of my internship,” Easter said. “This will help with my LinkedIn and resume. In addition, it allowed me to share my research and ended my internship on a positive note.”

Through the SECU Public Fellows Internship Program, students gain more than a summer work experience. They have the opportunity to explore future careers, apply their academic learning, develop new skills and use research and data to contribute to organizations and communities across rural North Carolina.