Dear Community Partners, Alumni Donors, and Alumni Mentors:

What a rewarding summer Princeton Internships in Civic Service (PICS) had in 2022! With 209 Princeton undergraduate students participating in a PICS experience this summer, PICS saw its largest cohort yet of students, Community Partners, and Alumni Mentors. 

As we look forward to a major period of growth, it is important to reflect on the successes of the last year, and how PICS will continue to be an integral part of the student experience at Princeton, and enhance their Princeton experience. 

We are excited to offer this 2022 Annual Report to you as a supporter of our program, and are especially excited to see where PICS will go from here. We thank you for your dedication to our program, and invite you to read about the impact PICS had this year, and how you can become part of the difference PICS internships make to Princeton students’ experience here and beyond their time at Princeton

With Tiger cheers,

With the students’ full return to campus in pre-pandemic numbers, and PICS heading into the second year fully ensconced in the Pace Center for Civic Engagement, the 2021-2022 Academic Year saw quite a number of changes and enhancements to the PICS student experience. We are especially proud of implementing a stipend increase to $600 a week for all students, regardless of internship format or location. This is an important shift for PICS, and it allows internships to continue to be accessible to all students. Thanks to the support of so many alumni donors, as well as the University, PICS was able to match 209 interns throughout the country, and in Bermuda and Canada as well!

A hallmark of PICS has always been our attention to strong mentorship, and we know students benefit tremendously from the mentorship they receive through their host organizations and also their dedicated Alumni Mentor. Our 209 Tigers worked with around 170 Community Partners, and each was paired with one of the record 140+ Alumni who signed up to be Alumni Mentors this summer. 

To facilitate strong connections, as well as provide students with even more opportunities to connect with the wonderful network of Princeton alumni that supports PICS, we also brought back in-person regional gatherings, held six zoom panels of alumni experts on various topics, and held periodic Alumni Mentor check in calls throughout the summer. 

Now that the University is supporting the expansion of PICS, with a projected target of 300 internships by summer 2025, there is much work to be done. We will need to ensure strong processes and systems are in place, in order for each student, Alumni Mentor, and Community Partner to have the best summer experience possible. Based on feedback from students, their Community Partners, and their Alumni Mentors, we know PICS has a positive impact on all parties involved, and it will be important to be purposeful and intentional about the program’s growth moving forward.

It was a big year for PICS! We are excited and energized by the success of the summer, and are eager to continue this success for years to come.

"As a result of my PICS internship and service experience, I am more aware of the inner workings of organizations that seek to help those most in need of quality healthcare, and as a result my interest in global health has grown and I now have more experience in creating highly effective programs that will help those most in need have access to high quality healthcare."

- Valeria Zuluaga-Sanchez, Class of 2024, Bulamu Healthcare

Workplace environments have continued to shift in recent years, and remote and hybrid offerings remain options for PICS students. This year, we saw a decrease in remote positions, a shift toward hybrid positions, and an even greater shift back to in-person opportunities/experiences. We expect this trend to continue, but expect that remote options will be a permanent fixture for the program due to the flexibility they provide and their popularity with both Community Partners and students. Our goal is to ensure that remote options provide the same quality and support for students as the in-person and hybrid options.

Class Year

PICS opportunities are offered to rising second-, third-, and fourth-year students. How did the class years break down this year? 

In an interesting shift from summer 2021, rising juniors (Class of 2024) overtook the rising sophomores (Class of 2025) with the largest number of participants. The Class of 2024 also had the largest representation for last year’s cohort, at 41%. We believe the continued uptick for this particular class correlates with the Class of 2024 being especially hungry for internship opportunities they had to defer during the pandemic summers of 2020 and 2021. 

Area of Study

Each year, PICS interns run the gamut with respect to major/intended major; for summer 2022, we had 31 majors represented in this year’s interns. This is indicative of the breadth of opportunities PICS offers each year, and the success of growing the pool of student applicants and the pool of Community Partners. Our top majors this year were Molecular Biology, Neuroscience, Politics, Economics, History, and Public Policy (SPIA). 

If we take a broader view of areas of study at Princeton (Engineering, Humanities, Natural Sciences, and Social Sciences), our largest cohort of students falls in the Social Sciences category (50.2%). With 54 PICS students declared or intending to declare as SPIA majors, this is no surprise. Compared to summer 2021, Natural Sciences and Humanities grew by around 3% of the student population, with Engineering falling slightly. With the inclusion of more environmentally focused opportunities for summer 2023, we expect the number of students majoring or intending to major in Natural Sciences to increase again next year.

First Generation Low Income (FLI) Representation in PICS

PICS proudly supports students from all backgrounds in our program; this year, 24% of PICS interns were participants of either the Freshman Scholars Institute (FSI) or the Scholars Institute Fellows Program (SIFP). We are especially proud of this representation, as we know FLI students are often hesitant or unable to pursue unpaid summer internship opportunities. PICS provides a place for all students to take advantage of the opportunities offered here at Princeton, and we are confident we can continue to provide for these students.

As our awareness of the impact of the pandemic on student mental health has grown, so too has our approach to supporting the 209 students throughout the summer. In addition to encouraging students to meet with their Alumni Mentor at least three times during the summer, we held seven regional gatherings, hosted by various alumni in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington, DC, Philadelphia, and New Jersey. Great thanks to Rob Wolk '91 and Dr. Ralph Binder '70, Paul Haaga '70, Yung Bong Lim '87 and Bob Loveman '69, Dr. Sandy Rea '69, and Sue McSorley '77 and Jennifer Daniels '93 for hosting wonderful events and making the students feel so welcomed!

To supplement our communications with students, we instituted a monthly newsletter that covered professional development tips, as well as an easy way to check in with students, ensuring multiple touchpoints throughout the summer. While the Slack channel proved to be a helpful tool during the summer of 2021, we did not find as much success this summer, though students did use the platform to connect and find roommates prior to the summer beginning! 

Thanks to amazing coordination by Dr. Ralph Binder '70, and Rob Wolk '91, both active and invaluable members of the Alumni Advisory Council, PICS held six virtual zoom panels during the week of July 11. Each panel hosted at least one alumni and we were fortunate enough to record each panel for posterity. Thank you to the following participants/moderators:

• Journalism featuring Janice Johnston '92, moderated by Rob Wolk '91
• Healthcare featuring Dr. John McPherson '89, Dr. Roy Xiao '14, and Megan Chung '19, moderated by Dr. Ralph Binder '70
• Social Impact featuring Dr. Martin Eichelberger '67, Julianna Wright '17, and Colton Hess '18, moderated by Rob Wolk '91
• Environment and Sustainability featuring Jay Parikh '12, Molly Fisch-Friedman '16, and Emily Chen '17, moderated by Jennifer Daniels '93
• Education featuring Dr. Sarah Tantill '87 and Adrienne Dominguez '10, moderated by Duncan Van Dusen '92
• Community and Social Services featuring Bob Loveman '69 and Brett Dakin '98, moderated by Yung Bong Lim '87

Finally, we spent some time getting to know our Alumni Mentors this summer. Because we are the only summer internship program at Princeton that offers the perk of a dedicated Alumni Mentor for every participant, we rely on our alumni to spread the word about PICS and the mentorship feature of the program. To facilitate conversation and relationship building, we held virtual sessions specifically for Alumni Mentors this summer. These included an onboarding/orientation call in May, and two check in calls in June and August. We hope all of the Alumni Mentors had successful summers, and that we can count on you to invite two or three friends to be Mentors next summer!

"A true highlight of working with the Aspen Institute Science & Society Program has been the experience of being part of one core program but having opportunities to interact with others from the larger Institute. This unique structure has given me a sense of the different scales of organizations that I may want to work with in the future and the different paths people have taken before joining the Institute."

- Sejal Gould, Class of 2025, The Aspen Institute Science & Society Program

Our Donors

We are additionally so grateful for the support of the following Princeton Clubs, Classes, and programs:

• Alumni and Friends of Princeton ROTC
• Dr. Ralph Binder ‘70 and Barbara Binder S70 through the Binder Service Internship Fund
• Charles C Freyer '69 and Judith D. Freyer through the Freyer Service Internship Fund
• FFR/Princeton BTGALA
• Daniel and Florence Guggenheim Foundation
• Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky & Popeo PC
• Princeton Classes of '63, '66, '67, '69, '72, '75, '77, '92, ‘12, and '17
• Princeton Club of Chicago
• Princeton Club of Houston
• Princeton Club of Southwest Florida
• Princeton School of Public and International Affairs - History & the Practice of Diplomacy
• Princeton University Center for Health & Wellbeing Global Health Policy Program
• Princeton University Service Focus Program
• Leonard D. Schaeffer Fellows in Government Service
• Yung Bong Lim ‘87 and Peggy Lim S87 through the Y.B. & P.M. Lim ‘87 PICS Fund

"As a result of my PICS internship and service experience, I am literally the happiest I have ever been, and I mean that!"

- Richard Stuart, Class of 2023, Tennessee Justice Center

The Alumni Mentor experience makes PICS a unique and indelible experience. Thank you so much to our alumni partners, who worked so hard to support our students this summer!

Thank you to our amazing Community Partners who helped make this summer so enriching!

"Working with PICS has propelled the work that we do. The impact that the PICS students have on our program and community is immeasurable. We have a very small team with big ideas and big plans on how we can effectively help and serve our youth and community in Stockton. The critical thinking skills, innovative ideas and hard work that the PICS students bring helps us to implement our plans. We really appreciate the PICS program and our partnership."

- Sylvie Gillies, Reinvent Stockton

As an official Princeton University Program, PICS is housed in the John H. Pace Jr. '39 Center for Civic Engagement. PICS is directed by Class of 1969 PICS Program Director Emily Sharples, and managed by PICS Program Coordinator Rose Holton. PICS is supported by its Friends Group, which consists of more than 2,500 members, and is steered by the Executive Committee:

Chair

Chuck Freyer '69

Vice Chairs

• Kate Bellin ‘02 (Communications)
• Jennifer Daniels ‘93 (University Relations)
• Robert Falk ‘85 (Membership)
• Yung Bong Lim ‘87 (Operations)
• Duncan Van Dusen ‘92 (Development)

Secretary

Dina Brewer '88

Treasurer

Eve Lesser '77

Operations Co-Chairs

Dr. Ralph Binder '70 and Yung Bong Lim '87

Membership Co-Chairs

Debbie Danker '75 and Rob Falk '85

Additional Members

Bob Axelrod '69, Bryant R. Blount '08, Professor Miguel Centeno, Ricardo DeLeon '86, Brett Dakin '98, Dr. Marty Eichelberger '67, Trey Farmer '93, Dr. Evan Fieldston '98, Paul Haaga '70, Raquiba Huq '13, Professor Stanley Katz, Mary Kim '19, Stephen Kim S92, Rick Kitto '69, Seva Kramer h69, Nancy Lin '77, Suzanne McSorley '77, Vivian Moore P20, Bob Raymar '69, Rukiya Ross '14, Jeri Schaefer h69, Leonard Schaeffer '69, Emily Sharples (ex-officio), Morgan Smith '21, Mary Strother Sullivan '90, Rob Wolk '91, Shirley Wu '15

Riding high on the success of 2022, our goal for summer 2023 is to match 230 amazing young Tigers. We expect the format of the internships will continue to shift even further back to in person, but do plan to continue offering remote opportunities, something we know will attract students, and Community Partners, too.

Once again, we have a strong interest from medical service community partners, and are seeing an uptick in community partners in the technology and infosec sectors, as well as a small uptick in the government service sector. With a record number of internship offerings, we are confident more student interests will be met, with increased accessibility for students. .

The Pace Center and the University continue to signal their strong commitment to service is integral to a Princeton student’s education, and PICS is proud to lead the way with civic service internship opportunities. We’re excited that gifts to PICS will continue to support so many Princeton undergraduates in internships that provide them with real-world learning and a professional experience to respond directly to community needs. We rely on generous Princeton alumni and friends so that all Princeton students have an equal opportunity to benefit from the program, regardless of financial aid status or family circumstances. Your gifts to PICS are so appreciated, and they are essential to ensuring that we can continue to offer these transformative experiences to students and community partners alike.

How You Can Help

Whether you’re a student, Community Partner, or Princeton alumnus, we would be honored and delighted to have you partner with PICS to celebrate and share what we can make possible.

• Students can apply to PICS internships each fall.
  • Current students who have done a PICS internship can serve on the Student Advisory Committee, as well as speak about their internship experience with interested students. If you would like to serve as an ambassador in this way, please contact Program Director Emily Sharples to learn how!
• Community Partners can apply to host a Princeton student each summer.
• Alumni have a variety of opportunities for getting involved throughout the year. As a Princeton alumnus, you can:
  • Support an internship by funding a paid summer civic service experience for Princeton undergraduate
  • Serve as an alumni partner by mentoring a student during their summer internship
  • Suggest an internship by connecting us to nonprofit organizations interested in hosting an intern
  • Serve as a regional volunteer by helping to connect interns with resources and events

"Our PICS interns are highly motivated, positive contributors with strong communication and technical skills. Golden Apple has enjoyed hosting these young professionals who demonstrate a genuine desire to make a difference in communities of-need. We are grateful to PICS for their ongoing partnership in our efforts to be part of a material solution to the teacher shortage crisis in Illinois, New Mexico, and beyond."

- Neal Grimes, Golden Apple Foundation

We are so grateful for the help we receive to make PICS the impactful program that it is. The entire PICS team is filled with gratitude for the time, gifts, commitment to students, and commitment to the University you made this year. The impact of your support resounds across generations and touches so many lives, perhaps best expressed in the words of our students.

Truly, thank you for being a part of the PICS community as we all grow and learn through service together.