Community Partnerships Fuel Internship and Career Opportunities for Emmanuel Students

From Student to Recruiter

Rei Rama ’23 is an Emmanuel alum who is familiar with both the student and partner sides of the Professional Pathways program. Rama is now a systems navigator at the St. Ambrose Family Shelter, an extension of the nonprofit Catholic Charities – one of the 10 organizations that is hiring interns as part of the program.

Rama herself was part of the first Professional Pathways cohort, which landed her an initial internship there at the shelter, which later stemmed into a full-time job offer upon graduation and allowing her to rise in the ranks since 2023.

“It feels real now,” Rama said, “I just saw a great opportunity, it was a great first step for me and at the time I didn’t fully realize what it could become.”

It’s great to be able to maintain the relationship with Emmanuel, Rama said, especially now being on the employer and partner side of things. “Finding interns isn’t easy – Emmanuel frequently has people reaching out to us and connecting us to great students that apply. [And] the Career Center is so close to them and they can access it so easily.”

First as a direct care intern, Rama took calls and interacted with residents at the shelter and ended up staying on part-time during her senior year. Then halfway through her senior year, she received a full-time offer upon graduation.

The internship helped her confirm her interest in the social work field, as well as made her more passionate about helping people and supporting vulnerable populations. Not only are internships incredibly beneficial for getting that learning experience, Rama said, they’re opportunities to practice soft skills and “being your best self while at work.”

The Professional Pathways program is one of many ways that Emmanuel’s Career Center helps create opportunities for students to network and build relationships with professionals and organizations outside Emmanuel – and as a result, allow them to cultivate their own opportunities for post-graduation.

“Through their internships, students are expanding their network, gaining insight into specific fields and connecting that work to their classroom experience… all of these opportunities help prepare Emmanuel students to be successful and competitive in the workforce,” Fraser said.

Working alongside Emmanuel’s Leslie Ferrick McCafferty Career Center throughout the process, local organizations interview prospective Emmanuel students who have applied to the program and select students who are the best fit for the organization’s open internship.

“Emmanuel offers a high touch employer engagement experience,” said Director of Career & Professional Development Elizabeth Deren, “we hear from people all the time that they’ve never worked with such an engaging career center.”

Across the board, Deren added, the Career Center works in a highly engaging and collaborative style, with not only its students, but partners too: “that culture here extends out beyond just campus.”

New Professional Partnerships

New additions to the Professional Pathways Program this summer offer unique and enriching opportunities for student interns in addition to making an important impact on the community.

826 Boston, one of the new participants in the Professional Pathways programs in 2025, is a writing, tutoring and publishing nonprofit that offers writing rooms in a number of Boston Public Schools (BPS) locations as well as a professional writing workshop for high school juniors and seniors over the summer.

The nonprofit has a wide variety of roles it can offer interns, which is a key piece of the professional pathways initiative – allowing interns to explore as many different roles within an organization as possible. Senior HR and Internship Coordinator at 826 Boston, Logan Smith, said the nonprofit and Emmanuel College have collaborated and kept contact over the years, which made it even easier to form this new partnership.

“I was super excited about the opportunity – especially for a nonprofit we have a limited budget to hire and pay interns. It does matter a great deal that we can pay interns equitably – and they’re very integral to us here,” Smith said.

Boston Debate League serves students in public schools across Boston by creating inclusive learning communities through their core programs. By pairing with the Professional Pathways program, Volunteer Manager Valeria Pereira said she hopes that incoming interns can provide them with extra capacity and bring a fresh, external voice to help evaluate existing programs.

Their aim, she added, is to help the intern understand the variety of work that goes into a nonprofit and the soft-skills required to make one run successfully, like the range of working with students, parents and potential donors.

“It’s our first year working with this group for the internship program, but from our initial discussion it feels like a great fit, and we are glad that Emmanuel is focusing on supporting the growth and development of future nonprofit professionals. We certainly need more,” Pereira said.