Emily Chau '26 Spends the Summer Serving Immigrants and Refugees in Philadelphia
Name: Emily Chau
Class Year: 2026
Major: Psychology
Hometown: Cherry Hill, N.J.
Internship Organization: Nationalities Service Center
Job Title: Survivor Services Intern
Location: Philadelphia, Pa.
What's happening at your internship? We would love to hear what kind of work you are doing!
This summer, I am working as part of the Survivor Services team at NSC, which serves immigrant survivors of domestic violence, torture, and trafficking as they navigate living in the United States. We aim to empower refugees and immigrants and help them achieve their own futures by providing comprehensive, culturally-informed services. As an intern, I have mainly been working with case managers, compiling a variety of resource lists for clients to connect them to local organizations that can meet their needs. On one end, this involves reaching out to the client directly, inquiring about their needs, and helping them achieve their self-chosen goals (e.g. learning English, obtaining stable housing, providing food for their family). On the other end, this involves reaching out to organizations and advocating on behalf of the clients (typically regarding language access). In all, it has been rewarding helping clients achieve self-sufficiency even in small ways.
Why did you apply for this internship?
I applied to this internship because the mission of NSC spoke to me personally. As a child of immigrants, I believe that it is important that I give back and provide support to those who are seeking a future in the United States. I also believe that, while I am a second-generation immigrant, there are many different reasons why the communities I serve have immigrated here that are very different from my family’s reasons. I hope that, by meeting survivors and their service providers face-to-face, I can expand my worldview and gain a holistic picture of these communities.
I also saw this internship as an opportunity to explore a possible career path as a psychology major. I wanted to see whether I would like to pursue a community-based social work career like that at NSC or a more research-based career. During my time at Bryn Mawr, I have taken classes that I feel have given me skills that can be applied to both paths.
My advice for students who are seeking internships is to reach out to your fellow classmates, even if you don't know them very well. You never know where that one conversation will take you!
Was there anything special about how you found this internship?
I found out about NSC during the Bryn Mawr & Beyond event hosted by the Career and Civic Engagement Center. I hadn’t planned to go, but I stopped by after lunch and I saw someone I knew from a class that I had taken the previous semester. We talked about their internship experience at NSC (although theirs was in a different department), and I really liked the idea of working with a case manager, meeting clients, and serving those in the Philadelphia area. After researching NSC, I discovered the Survivor Services program, and I was excited to apply for an internship whose message really resonated with me. So, my advice for students who are seeking internships is to reach out to your fellow classmates, even if you don't know them very well. You never know where that one conversation will take you!
What is something you have learned from your internship that you didn't expect?
I was surprised to learn that the work that I do at NSC engages so many different parts of my mind that I didn’t expect to be using. As a psychology major, I feel that I have often viewed individuals on a somewhat small level. For example, when I am taking a developmental psychology class, I think about how parenting, genetics, and social norms affects the individual. However, when I am reaching out to organizations for clients, I have to think about how the individual fits in a grander scale. I have to think about their proximity to these organizations and whether resources are accessible by public transportation or not. I have to think about how their immigration status affects their access to resources, and how the history of their country of origin affects their behavior and compatibility with local organizations. Similarly, finding these resources engages the research part of my mind where I have to be specific, creative, and persistent when acquiring information from these organizations. To sum it up, I learned that in order to provide sufficient care to others, I have to think out of the box and take into account the bigger picture.
Through the Career and Civic Engagement Center Beyond Bryn Mawr Summer Internship Program, Bryn Mawr students pursue opportunities in fields such as nonprofits, government and law, health care, research, sciences, business, and the arts. Thanks to the generosity of our alumnae/i and donors, over 150 students across all academic departments are funded to pursue unpaid internships or research experiences in the U.S. and abroad each year.