Learning and Listening: 2024 Dwight Hall Summer Fellows Reflect on their Summers of Service

Thirty-one Dwight Hall Summer Fellows spent the summer supporting social change initiatives in New Haven and communities nationwide. Undergraduates and recent graduates completed eight- to 12-week projects that addressed issue areas like legal aid, refugee and immigrant rights, housing, food insecurity, climate change, and more.

A new funding structure expanded the Summer Fellows cohort, offering full funding to 14 students and supplemental funding to 17 additional students who were underfunded by other sources or who had part-time roles.

Altogether, the 2024 Fellows contributed 6,694 hours of public service and social justice work this summer. Dwight Hall disbursed $97,166 to fund students’ experiences.

Dwight Hall also expanded access to its fellowship programming by organizing a virtual, four-part workshop series with Yale’s Office of Fellowships and Funding. Centered on “Growing Professionally in the Social Sector,” and led by Mark Fopeano, Dwight Hall’s Director of Programming and Evaluation, the series covered topics like preparing for summer projects, understanding the U.S. social sector, networking and mentorship, and post-summer reflection and planning. All Yale students completing summer internships or fellowships focused on social impact were invited to attend. 

The series was bolstered by the participation of Yale alumni Rachel Stanton ’05, Hon. P. Casey Pitts ’03, ’08 J.D., and Albert E. Lucas ’90, who joined the third workshop to share advice on finding mentors in the social sector. Albert and Casey recalled their past experiences as Dwight Hall Summer Fellows and how these early exposures to public service led them to their current careers. Jorimel Zaldivar, Senior Associate Director for Common Good Careers at Yale’s Office of Career Strategy, also joined the final workshop in the series to discuss career development opportunities available during the academic year. 

In their final reflections, many 2024 Fellows elaborated on the transformative experience of being a Summer Fellow. A common theme that arose in their reflections was how community engagement directly contributed to greater open-mindedness and a willingness to see different perspectives on issues. 

“Through the [International Youth Forum], I literally met people from North Macedonia, Ukraine, Brazil, the Netherlands, France, Czech Republic, Hungary, Austria, Croatia, and numerous other countries,” wrote Misan Oseragbaje ’25, who served as a research associate at the Anne Frank Center at the University of South Carolina and attended the Anne Frank Youth Network International Youth Forum in the Netherlands as a representative of the Center. “My way of thinking and living is but one in millions, so I want to go out into the world with an open mind and learning spirit,” stated Misan.

Several Fellows interned at organizations spreading awareness about the effects of climate change. For example, Hailey Seo ’26 worked as a Public Policy Analysis Intern at Frontier Group, the think tank and research arm of the Public Interest Network. While conducting research and writing fact sheets and articles about environmental hazards and global climate action, she grew even more aware of her privilege and felt spurred to action.

“. . . Natural disasters affect vulnerable communities in a scarier way than I could ever imagine happening to myself,” Hailey emphasized. “This deeper understanding has made me realize I need to campaign for the narrative that climate change is a universal problem and is entrenched in all of the fights for justice and equity.”

Similarly, Emma Polinsky ’25 served as a Climate Communications Intern at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “After completing this fellowship, I feel more empowered and confident that I will be able to make change,” she reflected. “In climate [work] specifically, it can be easy to fall into a ‘doomerism’ mindset feeling like all is lost. Now, I have a revived energy knowing there are many people working hard at promoting climate and community needs at the highest levels.”

Other Fellows gained experience working in research laboratories, preparing for careers in medicine and healthcare. Merit Onyekwere ’26 spent the summer working with SalivaDirect, a nonprofit clinical epidemiology and microbiology lab housed at the Yale School of Public Health.

“This was my first time working in a lab environment, so being given the support to learn and sometimes fail at the microbiological and clinical techniques and then grow to being an independent scientist in the lab was truly invaluable,” emphasized Merit. “I felt incredibly proud of myself and affirmed in my decision to pursue medicine, healthcare ethics, and science as a career.”

Nicole Campbell ’25, this year’s Dr. Peter R. Muehrer ’82 Fellow, also devoted the summer to laboratory work at the Connecticut Mental Health Center, serving in Dr. Sarah Fineberg’s lab and studying the neural and behavioral correlates of trauma-related disorders like post-traumatic stress disorder and borderline personality disorder. At the end of the summer, Nicole reflected on the relationship between research and service. 

“Connecting research to service means continuing to question and wonder about my research and its broader significance,” she stated. “Beyond statistics and hypotheses, what does it mean for the real-world experiences of the patients in the study (and other patients in similar demographics)?”

Fellows with self-designed projects highlighted the unlimited capacity for creativity and ingenuity that is fostered when working collaboratively with community partners. For instance, Paloma Lenz ’26 partnered with Neighborhood Housing Services (NHS), spending part of the summer constructing a geodesic dome in New Haven’s Newhallville neighborhood with the help of students from the Hopkins School. 

“The dome itself will offer more opportunities for collaboration with NHS,” noted Paloma. “It will serve as a site for community gatherings, gardening events, and artistic events.” More than anything, Paloma emphasized the community aspect of the dome’s construction and her broader work with NHS. “Besides physically building the dome, I felt even more fulfilled by the community that was built around it.”

Countless Fellows echoed this sentiment, emphasizing how critical the community aspect of service work is. “The New Haven community has a rich history of overcoming and addressing issues, and it’s just as important to listen as it is to take action,” said Renee Deminee ’24, who spent the summer serving with the New Haven Peoples Center, a historic community center located on Howe Street. “Although the contribution of myself as an individual is important, especially if I am helping fulfill a need that requires a specific skill, the most essential thing is to collaborate and uplift each other.”

All Fellows underscored the critical role of their community supervisors, who immeasurably enriched their summer experiences by serving as mentors and teachers. Taylor Carroll ’24, who devoted the summer to leading education outreach for students of color in economically marginalized school districts in Chicago, emphasized the knowledge her supervisors imparted to her.

“My mentoring supervisors Ms. Michelle and Myekel emphasized that public service work requires you to ‘know your demographic’ and tailor projects accordingly to effect meaningful change,” she noted. 

She concluded: “The love, care, and regard that students, community leaders, and I have shared with each other throughout the summer has taught me how to be a more empathetic and effective public servant, neighbor, community partner, and educator. I am deeply grateful for this experience and the ways that it has prepared me for a professional career in the social sector, particularly public education.”

The 2024 Dwight Hall Summer Fellows program was made possible through the support of the Yale Alumni Nonprofit Alliance, Yale Club of New Haven, Charlotte Foundation, Dr. Peter R. Muehrer ’82 Fund, Hugh R. McCombs ’68, Yale alumni and friends, and the Dwight Hall Summer Fellows Fund.

Students interested in continuing or pursuing fellowships after the summer may find information about academic year funding opportunities on Dwight Hall’s Fellowships and Paid Opportunities page. 

The Summer Fellows program advances the Grow pillar of Dwight Hall’s Engage, Grow, and Advance program delivery model by developing students’ intellectual, moral, civic, and creative capacities to the fullest with experiential learning and fellowships.