Chatham Interns Continue to Impress
Written by: Grace Conde, Assistant Director of Experiential Learning | Reviewed by Hannah Su Hepler, Director of Career Development
We have recently concluded Spring 2025 internships, and our students have found meaningful opportunities for experiential learning with many different organizations in Pittsburgh and beyond. This report presents an analysis of Chatham University's Spring 2025 Internship program, highlighting the professional growth of interns, the satisfaction of both students and site supervisors, and areas for ongoing improvement.
Data Analysis
Data was collected through mid-term and final evaluations from both interns and their respective supervisors, measuring competencies in the following areas of Communication, Critical Thinking, Leadership, Professionalism, Teamwork, and Technology. These competencies are intentionally chosen from the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) by the Office of Career Development. The final evaluation data revealed consistently strong performance across all measured competencies and affirms that Chatham interns continue to impress employers in workplaces.
Bar Chart Analysis of Final Internship Core Competencies
Site supervisors rated students across six core competencies: Communication, Critical Thinking, Leadership, Professionalism, Teamwork, and Technology. Ratings were given on a scale from 1 (minimal competence) to 5 (exceptional performance).
Teamwork stands out as the highest-rated competency, with 88% of students receiving a 5, indicating strong collaborative and interpersonal abilities developed during internships.
Communication (77%), Technology (83%), and Professionalism (83%) also received predominantly top ratings, indicating interns are emerging with strong workplace readiness and confidence in practical tools and settings. These strong ratings indicate that Chatham interns are continuing to exceed employer expectations.
Final Core Competency Evaluation – Student Self-Assessment
During the final evaluation, students were asked questions to assess aspects of students' internship experiences, including relevance to their studies, quality of supervision, workplace environment, project quality, tangible outcomes, and confidence development, which are all crucial elements for effective career preparation and professional development.
Intern Evaluation of final competencies as a result of their internship.
This chart displays how students rated themselves across six key professional competencies at the end of their internship using a scale from 1 to 5. Notably, no students rated themselves below 3, highlighting a baseline of self-confidence and perceived competence across all areas.
Confidence Development: 47 students gave the highest rating of 5, showing that the majority felt their internship strengthened their confidence. Only 3 students were neutral (3), and 14 gave a 4.
Tangible Outcomes: While still mostly positive (40 students rated 5), this category had the highest number of “4” ratings (19), suggesting some room for interns to improve final projects or end deliverables within their internship.
Project Quality: 44 students rated 5, and 16 gave a 4—reflecting consistent satisfaction with the quality of their work.
Workplace Environment: This received the strongest response—55 students gave a 5. It’s the highest “strongly agree” count in the entire dataset, pointing to a consistently positive working atmosphere.
Quality of Supervision: 52 students gave a 5, and only 5 were neutral. This highlights that most students felt well-supported and guided during their internships.
Relevance to Study: While still highly rated (46 students gave a 5), this had the lowest number of 3s and 4s combined (20 total). That may indicate that a few internships could better align with students' academic goals.
The absence of 1s and 2s reinforces the notion that students left their internships feeling confident and capable, with most believing they excelled in essential professional skills.
Site Supervisors
A huge part of our successful internship program is the role played by our Site Supervisors. These are the individuals who take on the responsibility to teach the intern they bring on and continue to oversee their progress throughout the entire internship.
Thank you to all of our wonderful supervisors for your unwavering support for our students!
Following midterm and final evaluations, we had a 100% response rate from Site Supervisors. 54% of Site Supervisors had not hosted a Chatham intern before this semester, and upon conclusion of this internship period, 100% of Site Supervisors responded “Yes” to hosting another Chatham student intern. One site supervisor responded with especially positive feedback:“We love Chatham interns, they're always the best of the best!”
Feedback from Site Supervisors included comments such as:
“[Intern] has been a strong communicator. She wisely knows when to see additional guidance, but balances that well with her attitude of wanting to seek solutions”
[Intern] has strong leadership skills. She is very dedicated to her work and her enthusiasm is contagious. She is effectively leading her team.
[Intern] is very professional. She takes her position here very seriously and conducts herself in a very professional manner.
“Our organization is benefiting greatly from [Intern’s] efforts, while hopefully providing an equally beneficial learning experience in return.”
Student Responses
We analyze student data and their responses during their internship. They reported opportunities for growth and professional development as a result of their experiential learning. Out of the 23 final responses received, 95% of Chatham Spring interns worked in an area related to their intended career field.
A few of the achievements by our interns during the Spring semester were shared as follows:
“Some of the design work was used by the company for their websites. It built my confidence moving forward.”
“At my internship I learned a number of useful workflows and methods for efficient and in-depth historical research.”
“One of my major accomplishments during my internship was putting together instructional videos and crafting tutorials with recycled materials. Pushing through discomfort to create public-facing content for social media took me a lot of courage, and I'm proud of the videos I created.”
“I assisted with designing multiple projects for large clients including many higher education clients. I played a large role in space planning, furniture specification, quoting, and putting together deliverables.”
One student shared her thoughts on the internship program: “This internship opportunity is something I will forever be grateful for. It showed me that working with children is something I truly want to do and it changed my perspective on many things.”
Chatham University’s Spring 2025 interns demonstrated significant professional and personal growth, effectively translating academic knowledge into valuable real-world experience. Supervisor feedback consistently underscored interns' professionalism, strong work ethic, and impactful contributions to their host organizations. We are so thrilled for all of these students, and looking forward to continued success from our Chatham interns.