Summer in the Cities

Corey Hodder ’23

Uncovered a piece of Tacoma history in the local library.

MAJORS: Business leadership; environmental policy and decision making

ABOUT THE GIG: The Tacoma Public Library recently established the Community Archives Center to fill in some gaps in the local record. “Historically, community archive centers are very whitewashed,” says Hodder. At Puget Sound, he learned about environmental policy and how it impacts indigenous communities—and, through his internship, he could help discover, and share, a part of Tacoma’s past.

WHAT HE DID: With support from the university’s Summer Fellowship Internship program, Hodder (who also captains the swim team) organized more than 25 bankers boxes’ worth of documents related to the Indian Land Claims Settlement from the 1980s. He spent time in the library basement and stacks, sorting information that had been stored away for years: maps of land that the Puyallup Tribe claimed; correspondence (letters, faxes, printed emails) among local organizations and government officials; and notes from various committees.

LESSONS LEARNED: “At times, it hit me that I was the first person in probably over 20 years to actually dive into those documents,” says Hodder. “I was really proud of being able to be part of such a huge project.” His work will be accessible to the public through the archive center’s online database.

Ryan Smith ’23

Advocating for the environment through ESG initiatives.

MAJORS: Economics; environmental policy and decision making

ABOUT THE GIG: Smith interned in Sandy, Utah, as an ESG and sustainability analyst for Bridge Investment Group. The worldwide interest in ESG—environmental, social, and governance issues—is growing, he says, but it’s not yet prevalent: “One of the biggest challenges is convincing people that spending time and, sometimes, investing money on ESG-related initiatives is worth it.” The summer prior, Smith worked for Sustainability Services at University of Puget Sound.

WHAT HE DID: Smith, who also plays soccer for the Loggers, taught Bridge employees about ESG-related criteria and how to reach goals. (Teaching comes naturally: He tutors students as a course assistant in economics.) He also updated the group’s corporate policies to better align with industry standards. Finally, he reported the group’s ESG information to the global database GRESB for benchmarking.

LESSONS LEARNED: The private sector’s influence on climate change is growing, says Smith. “Companies are trying to reduce carbon emissions or create a more socially responsible company in a better form of capitalism,” he says. After graduation, he wants to pursue sustainability consulting so that he can help as many companies as possible bolster their ESG programs.

Julian Cañeda-Santos ’24

Director of a summer camp for children in need.

MAJOR: Sociology

ABOUT THE GIG: Cañeda-Santos spent last summer working at LifeMoves, whose mission is to end homelessness in California’s San Mateo and Santa Clara counties. She says the services (like case management) and programs for families are just as valuable as the shelter that’s offered. The free summer camp that she planned, for example, is critical for working parents or those out seeking employment.

WHAT SHE DID: Cañeda-Santos ran camps for the 15 to 20 kids staying in the shelter. She supplied healthy snacks; managed high school counselors; organized trips to the park and pool; and put together a full schedule of arts and crafts, games, and activities— including a magic show and a movie screening. She also implemented STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math) lessons and conducted reading evaluations.

LESSONS LEARNED: Cañeda-Santos, a POSSE scholar who might eventually work in nonprofits, knows how much homelessness is an issue in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties—especially after the pandemic. It’s also something that her own family has struggled with in the past. “Something I learned from my internship,” she says, “is that it’s important to provide a safe space for kids to be unapologetically themselves.”

Lucy Gruidl ’24

Photographer for Tacoma’s growing number of small businesses.

MAJORS: Economics; business administration

ABOUT THE GIG: The internship, supported by the Puget Sound Summer Fellowship Internship program, was developed around Gruidl’s interests: photography, the arts, and small business entrepreneurship. “I wanted to engage with the larger community and learn about the people who make up Tacoma,” she says. She interned downtown at Spaceworks Tacoma, which supports the local economy and arts scene through incubator business programs and commissioning works like murals and window installations.

WHAT SHE DID: Gruidl’s main responsibility was photographing the people and businesses who benefited from the nonprofit. One person she met is Benita Ki ’11, a founder of Civic Roasters coffee shop, who went through the Spaceworks incubator program in 2021. In all, the summer experience was fully integrating, she says: “There’s so much more to Tacoma than North Tacoma.”

LESSONS LEARNED: Gruidl was asked to stay on as a communications coordinator, where she fields questions and does social media and marketing, including cataloging even more stories of Spaceworks alumni. “The power that community has—both on campus and in the greater community—is strong,” says Gruidl, who moved to Washington from Minnesota. “Those connections can make Tacoma feel like home.”

John “Kayden” Diodati ’23

Told the story of a Boeing 737 being built—and was a student of the corporate world.

MAJORS: Business leadership; politics and government

ABOUT THE GIG: At Boeing’s factory in Renton, Wash., Diodati worked as a 737 business operations program management intern and saw (literally, through office windows overlooking the production line) nearly 100 commercial airplanes being built throughout the summer.

WHAT HE DID: Diodati studied the assembly for the 737—“I don’t see planes the same way anymore,” he says—and then outlined the key steps of the process (think: installing wheels, painting the aircraft) on a dozen storyboards. “It was important to get the story right, but also tell it in a way for people who are not engineers,” he says. His project is on display in the mezzanine and supports self-guided walking tours. While doing the internship, he simultaneously processed the experience through a Puget Sound seminar, Experiential Learning 350. After the internship wrapped, he continued to work for Boeing on long-term projects.

LESSONS LEARNED: Diodati, who served as last year’s ASUPS president, talked to someone new every day at Boeing. He soaked up the business—and business culture—and made observations about managerial practices and the corporate environment. “It was fascinating to see textbook ideas applied in the real world,” he says. “I’d learn something in my strategic management and consulting capstone class and then see it play out in a work meeting the next day.

Ben Everett ’24

Boosted revenue for a small community bike shop.

MAJORS: International political economy; Chinese language and culture

ABOUT THE GIG: Two miles from campus is Second Cycle, a retail bike shop and nonprofit organization that repurposes bikes and bike parts. Its goal? Make biking more accessible, especially to people with low incomes. Everett, a Colorado native with family roots in cycling, played a large role in Second Cycle’s recycle and reuse program that services donated equipment for new owners.

WHAT HE DID: He landed the position through Puget Sound’s Summer Fellowship Internship program, which connects students with Tacoma-based nonprofits. (Students are given a grant for their time.) At the shop, he sorted through the back stock and identified salvageable items. He set up garage sales and—for more expensive vintage parts—created an eBay storefront for Second Cycle. In its first week, those listings brought in $800.

LESSONS LEARNED: There was plenty of hands-on experience retooling bikes—he even built himself a bike over the summer. (And he’ll need it: The shop offered Everett a part-time job there.) But mostly, he gained a profound satisfaction in community work; he especially felt it while creating Second Cycle’s new community outreach board committee. Says Everett: “It’s crazy that biking is inaccessible to a lot of people because of the costs.”

Ronit Mathur ’23

A software engineer who translates tech for others.

MAJORS: Computer science; psychology

ABOUT THE GIG: DocuSign, a popular e-signature platform, acquired an API library and hired Mathur to write up the specifics of what they did. (APIs send data between the front and back ends of a system.) His findings were used to catch up other developers at the company. And, as part of DocuSign’s global team, Mathur—in true tech fashion—was able to work remotely from his home in San Jose, Calif.

WHAT HE DID: Mathur, who grew up around Silicon Valley, also hosted online workshops for engineers and new members during his internship; he demonstrated how different products are used and integrated into other businesses. “Oftentimes, we don’t know what the product looks like on the front end,” says Mathur. In his tutorials, he showed—side by side—how code translates to what the customer sees.

LESSONS LEARNED: “A big takeaway was learning how a larger company structures itself,” he says. He was particularly interested in the makeup of departments like the depth of a support team. Thanks to this internship, Mathur feels he’s now capable of working with all areas of a software product, from idea to distribution. In the future, he might marry his majors and explore apps in mental health and mindfulness, not unlike Headspace or Calm.

Chloé Pargmann-Hayes ’24

Leaving her mark in the heart of downtown Tacoma through public art.

MAJORS: Communication studies; African American studies

ABOUT THE GIG: Pargmann-Hayes served as the marketing and communications intern for the City of Tacoma, in which she helped organize and introduce the Black Lives Matter mural that’s sprawled on the Tollefson Plaza steps. The project, supported by the Civic Scholarship Initiative, was finished in September; since then, she stops by the mural whenever she’s visiting the museums in that part of town.

WHAT SHE DID: Pargmann-Hayes met with artists to learn their needs, posted project updates on social media, touched base with dozens of volunteers, and managed the logistics of “painting days.” She even painted a little bit herself—the tops of steps, plus a few sections that were outlined. “Art is a really important part of activism,” she says.

LESSONS LEARNED: The mural project aligned with Pargmann- Hayes's passions for social justice issues. In addition to working at Puget Sound’s Race & Pedagogy Institute, she is a member of the Black Student Union and serves as the director of equity, inclusion, and justice in ASUPS. In making the mural, it was helpful to hear from people in Tacoma, she says, and compare their experiences with what it’s like on campus. That kind of feedback, she says, can be used to connect more deeply with the community.

EXPLORE MORE STORIES