Cochecho Waterfront Internship Sparks UNH Student’s Career Ambitions
WEDNESDAY, December 11, 2024
Jade Kwitkiwski
Abigail Gilbert (second from left) at Semester for Impact showcase at UNH
“It was definitely an odd way to reach students, but I guess it worked.”
Sophomore Abigail Gilbert didn’t expect her future to take shape during a casual walk through the hallways of Upper Quad at the University of New Hampshire. It was fall of 2023 when she noticed a lone table adorned with bright orange posters and pamphlets. Intrigued, she paused to chat with the person tabling.
The program on display was Semester for Impact, the local offshoot of the Boston-based internship program, Semester in the City. Gilbert had first heard about Semester in the City during class visits in her freshman and sophomore years, but this new program meant she could stay right here in Durham.
Now in her junior year, the pressure to find an internship was on. Gilbert had recently added Community Planning as a minor, which had evolved into her main interest. With minimal field experience, finding an internship felt like the surefire solution to a nagging anxiety. “I was definitely nervous, so a big appeal of the program was that if you applied and got accepted, it would pretty much be done for you,” Gilbert said.
Shortly after applying for the Spring 2024 semester, Gilbert learned that she had been accepted and placed at the City of Dover’s Office of Business Development. Her work focused on the Cocheco Waterfront Site, a project aimed at building boardwalk-style shops for local businesses to rent, at low rates, to launch their retail initiatives. This project effectively combined Gilbert’s studies in Environmental and Resource Economics and Community Planning, creating an ideal setting for her to dive head-first into a meaningful initiative close to home.
As a frequent visitor at Dover’s City Hall, Abigail crossed paths with professionals and constituents from nearly every department. Outreach coordinators, city planners, and city managers became familiar faces during her internship. “We did a lot of work with the city engineer working on my special project. Which was very interesting to get that perspective… because I’m definitely not an engineer,” Gilbert said. Her day-to-day responsibilities also included attending city meetings, running social media, and gathering data reports: like analyzing pedestrian foot traffic for different times of day at the waterfront.
Outside of her internship, Gilbert maintained her college routine. She woke up early in the morning to go to the Hamel Recreation Center with friends. After her work day, she still made time for meetings and clubs, like Outdoor Adventure: a UNH program, where she led student trips for paddling, hiking, and camping. On Wednesday nights and Fridays, she attended social innovation classes with other students in her cohort.
The classes, flexible and a little unconventional, were notably unlike your typical college lecture. Alex Johnson, a vibrant and smiling man, led these classes as the Senior Director of Semester for Impact. Gilbert recalled how Alex always made time to meet with students, whether to discuss class, internship experiences, or future career paths. “Anything– he was always open,” she said.
In one Friday class, Johnson taught the cohort how to find and write grants, “a skill that you don’t think you’re gonna need until you do,” Gilbert said. That skill soon proved invaluable, with grants popping up everywhere, including her business classes at Paul College and at her summer fellowship at the Chamber Collaborative of Greater Portsmouth.
Six months after wrapping her internship with Dover’s Office of Business Development, Gilbert feels more confident than ever that community planning, or a related field, is the career path she wants to pursue.
In her business classes, Dover often comes up as a local case study, and Gilbert has been able to capitalize on her firsthand knowledge. “It felt like even talking to the local business owners and being able to work with them, I was actually making a difference and doing real-world work, which is something you don’t get in the classroom,” Gilbert said.
If you liked this story and are interested in exploring your own Semester for Impact, learn more on the CFSI website or email Alex Johnson at alex.johnson@collegeforsocialinnovation.org.