Department of Energy Internship brings Randolph senior one step closer to career goals

Jared Ruddock spent his summer interning with the Department of Energy.

Jared Ruddock ’21 was recently able to follow in the footsteps of his grandfather, thanks to a virtual internship with the U.S. Department of Energy.

His grandfather worked at the DOE starting in 1990 as a member of the Senior Executive Service responsible for managing the nuclear weapons program. This summer, Ruddock found himself in the department’s Office of Fossil Energy, supporting the Office of Operations.

The internship—which he heard about from one of his grandfather’s former colleagues—was offered as part of the agency’s Minority Educational Institution Student Partnership Program. It offers high school, undergraduate, and graduate students summer internships in scientific research, policy, or government relations.

Ruddock worked closely with the Mickey Leland Energy Fellowship Program, which provides educational opportunities for students to gain real-world, hands-on research experience with the Office of Fossil Energy. It was created in 1995 to improve opportunities for underrepresented and minority students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields.

He wrote features about the program’s fellows and their summer research. He also created fliers for a virtual speaking series, helped translate the department’s website from English to Spanish, and brainstormed ideas for social media posts.

Supporting minority communities is Ruddock’s ultimate goal. A media and culture major, he is interested in psychology and sees many possibilities for the future.

“This is a great place for me to start,” said Ruddock, who is interning with the Association for Environmental Studies and Sciences this fall, running the organization’s Instagram and Facebook pages.

“After graduation, I plan to work in government, for however long I can. Eventually, through one of the agencies, I’d like to apply for a master’s program in clinical mental health psychology. As a minority, I want to remove the stigma that’s placed on us. I want to help.”