Julia da Silva Peres: Bringing sociology into the community
In summer 2022, sociology student Julia da Silva Peres completed her sociology internship working in the public involvement department at HNTB, a civil engineering company in Detroit. Through this experience the 20-year-old native of São Paulo, Brazil was able to link her passion for community development to her coursework in the sociology department.
Describe your internship
My work was focused on researching history, population demographics, and policy related to community development projects. Organizing our public meetings was also an important part of my work. Before meetings, I organized the name badges for speakers and staff, survey forms, comment forms, roll plots, AV equipment and more. After meetings, I wrote summaries of the public meetings as part of the quality process. During the meetings, my role was notetaking during Q&A sessions and taking pictures. I also did graphic design work for postcards, meeting invitations, and posters; so, my internship encompassed a little bit of everything to help!
How did your internship relate to your sociology coursework?
Diversity, equity, and inclusion is the focus of our community meetings, because, in the past, marginalized communities were often forgotten, or even harmed by development projects. So extensive demographic research is always needed for projects. Also, understanding possible ethical issues is necessary for this work. For this department, understanding urban dynamics is necessary to understand how projects will affect the region of construction. To sum up, public engagement/involvement is like a social quality check, meaning that we work to make sure that the projects will have a positive impact on neighborhoods, communities, and urban spaces.
What was the one interesting aspect of the internship that you did not expect?
When I started my internship, I did not know how related the work was with sociology.
What advice would you give to a student looking to complete an internship?
Be open to learning, even if it is not exactly what you want to do. This is necessary because you will build a network and work experience. Also, doing an internship is hard. You will not necessarily work with the things that are most prestigious, but you will do the necessary basic work, like research and gathering material for the final product. It can be a little disheartening, but you need to keep in mind that this is just the beginning of your work history. So, do your best on everything!
What is your plan post-graduation?
My plan for post-graduation is to try to get a full-time job at the company that I am working for right now, or work part-time and start my master's. I am still choosing my topic for the master's, but I’m thinking about urban sociology focusing on urban planning or focus on identity theory.
If you're interested in taking sociology into your community, apply for an internship today!