My Summer Internship at L3

I did an internship last year inputting sports statistics for six hours a day. It was good experience, but the job was monotonous and I had lots of other interests I wanted to explore. I loved sports and statistics, but linguistics was another big interest of mine, and if I was to do another internship this summer, I wanted to delve into another interest of mine. I interviewed for the opportunity to complete an internship at the Language Learning Lab at Boston College, a lab that studies how children acquire language as they grow older. I was excited to hear I was accepted, but I wasn’t totally sure what to expect. Would it be just like the internship last year, or something totally new? I came in the first day, a little anxious about what kind of work I was going to be doing. I was given a tour of the school and of the lab, and was introduced to all the members of the lab. Almost immediately, I felt like a member of the lab. I never felt as if I was inferior compared to the longer-tenured members of the lab, or if I was below anyone. It was a very welcoming environment. I never felt as if I was doing tasks just to fill time, or tasks that were boring and repetitive. I was also given the privilege to go park testing in the Boston Common. This was where members of the lab would set up a stand in the Common and flag down families to ask to play certain games with their children so they could study the child’s understanding of the English language. It was great to be able to help out with one of their studies, and it made me feel as if I was making an impact on some of the research that the lab was conducting. I never felt like I was in the dark about the research, and I understood why we were out testing and how it would help understand children’s acquisition of language. Even when I wasn’t out testing, I felt as if I always was included in the lab’s activities. Whether that was attending meetings or reading groups to meditation sessions to even just hanging out at lunch, I felt as if I became a part of the lab community in just under three weeks. The lab members, many of whom were currently in college, also provided lots of helpful advice about college academics and life. Doing this internship was a valuable and enriching experience, and I feel as if I have learned a lot about both psychology and linguistics as well as what it’s like to work in a lab environment. I was blown away by the unbelievably hospitable members of the lab, and I am so happy I was able to complete an internship in this environment and learn more about my interests as well as myself.