CCRC Welcomes Four Summer Interns for 2022

CCRC has welcomed four undergraduates for hybrid internships this summer. Their assignments range from supporting our communications team by writing blogs and participating in other projects to assisting research teams studying advising, guided pathways, transfer, and dual enrollment.

Three of the interns come to CCRC from CUNY Career Launch, a program for CUNY undergraduates to gain experience in a field of their choice with a paid internship. We hope to provide them with research experience and a greater understanding of the importance of strengthening the higher education system.

We are excited to welcome them all to CCRC and hope you take the time to learn more about them!

Hamnah Malik

Hamnah Malik is a research intern at CCRC. She is an undergraduate at Northwestern University, pursuing an interest in higher education and economic development. Prior to joining CCRC, she started and led a team conducting a broad ethnography project in Pakistan that cataloged the perspectives of doctors, teachers, school custodial staff, and others on the reopening of schools amid an ever-worsening pandemic. Observing the severity of learning loss in Pakistan’s underfunded public school system, she set up a Smart-Phone Library to assist government school students with hybrid learning by providing devices and digitizing school library resources. Malik is also one of the founding members of a podcast on mental health, where she speaks passionately about student well-being. The podcast was ranked the number one student-run podcast in Pakistan on MyRodeCast for two years consecutively.

“This research position has exposed me to the problems community colleges universally face,” Malik said, “and also introduced frameworks these colleges could put in place to improve education and equity outcomes.”

Julia Segal is a research intern at CCRC focused on the support networks of first-generation college students. Segal is currently pursuing a bachelor of arts in sociology at Queens College, CUNY, where she has conducted research on community-based initiatives in New York City. She has previously volunteered at the Queens Public Library, where she assisted with implementing an early literacy program. She has also participated in Kiwanis International club, where she took part in local service projects and fundraising. Segal said CCRC’s focus on community colleges matched her interest in improving education.

“I found myself both drawn to CCRC as a student navigating the challenges of public education and in the pursuit of acquiring answers on how to improve success for all students,” she said.

Nabiha Sheikh

Nabiha Sheikh’s internship at CCRC is focused on researching educational policies. She is currently a senior at John Jay College of Criminal Justice majoring in criminal justice (institutional theory and practice) with a minor in humanities. Her journey started at Lone Star College in Houston, Texas, where she completed her associate of science degree. It was an unexpected start but also a very rewarding one, she said. She transferred to Pennsylvania State University for a semester before finally ending up at John Jay. Sheikh is passionate about criminal justice and hopes to work with juveniles as a counselor to help them better navigate the system.

“As I like to advocate for the underprivileged, this internship should give me an idea of what the education sector is doing to give every student an equal chance to succeed,” she said.

Anjanay Spence

Anjanay Spence is a communications intern at CCRC focused on writing blogs to raise awareness of student issues. She is currently a senior majoring in history at The City College of New York with a minor in studio art. She served as vice president of student affairs within the Undergraduate Student Government, where she was an advocate for increasing student services, mental health awareness, and LGBTQ+ visibility on campus. As a transfer student herself, she hopes to use her experiences to continue to help others within the school system.

“My experiences in student government provided me an opportunity to learn about how to create effective change within the school system, so from CCRC I hope to continue to research how to support students,” she said.