One of the most valuable experiences that Amanda Pyne ’22 had as she looked to begin a career in the publishing industry came from a Kenyon grad.
And she’s not alone. Hundreds of students in recent years have gotten a head start on their careers through Professional Extension Projects (PEP) — a unique offering from the Career Development Office that matches Kenyon students with alumni mentors who design hands-on projects intended to develop practical skills.
Today, Pyne lives in Brooklyn and works as an editorial assistant at the nonfiction publisher John Wiley & Sons. She credits her work through the PEP program with Mara Alperin ’07, senior story producer at London-based Wonderbly books, with providing an important professional foundation.
“It really fed my excitement for pursuing a career in the industry,” said Pyne, a former English major. “A lot of the skills that we honed I still utilize in my day to day.”
During the summer of 2021, Pyne completed projects remotely under Alperin’s guidance that emulated real-world work, giving her experience with proofreading, storyboarding and more. It led to paid freelance work for Wonderbly and was a significant boost to her resume.
“It was something that I talked a lot about in interviews,” Pyne said. “The benefits have continued to help in terms of both securing a job post-grad as well as building a skillset to help support my early career.”
More than 300 Kenyon students have taken part in the PEP program since its inception during the pandemic in 2020, when many traditional internships were cancelled, according to Karen Leuthold, associate director for career development.
These unpaid opportunities are available during winter and summer breaks in a variety of careers, from finance to publishing to government. This past winter break, 30 students took part in projects offered by 13 alumni.
Each PEP program involves a standalone project that can be completed remotely, requiring anywhere from 3 to 40 hours of work. These often take the form of mock exercises and case studies.
“We want people to get a little taste of what an industry’s like,” Leuthold said.
A mentor’s insights — and professional network — can have a real impact on a student’s career path. Mia Sherin ’22, a writer and strategist now living in New York City, developed her career aspirations as part of a PEP with writer James Dennin ’13. Through connections he provided, Sherin later scored a fall internship and, eventually, a job in audience strategy.
Others have seen their work used in tangible, high-impact ways. Miriam Hyman ’21 and Ian McInturf ’21, for example, spent a summer in the program being mentored by Paul Singer ’88, an editor at GBH News, a nonprofit newsroom in Boston. Their research and analysis about city funding of police departments in Massachusetts earned them a contributing credit on one of his articles related to the movement to defund police.
Delilah Locke ’26, who researched the correlation between COVID-19 and alcohol and nicotine use in youths as part of a PEP this summer, presented her findings to a group of high schoolers this fall. That was all thanks to her PEP mentor, Natalie Philpot ’03, programs coordinator at a Vermont nonprofit that focuses on substance misuse prevention in youths.
An English major from Maryland who is interested in a career in public health, Locke said she jumped at the opportunity to learn from Philpot, and the two have remained in touch, with Locke planning to help with one of the nonprofit’s events this spring.
“It transcended this summer PEP program into something a lot bigger, which has been really, really cool,” she said. “And Natalie has been such a fabulous mentor. Doing that PEP was fundamental to concretely saying that I want to go into public health.”
Mia Huerta ’25, another English major, had a similar experience with Alperin at Wonderbly. Following her formal PEP program this past summer — where she gained all sorts of skills and insights that has helped her plan her career path — she took on some freelance work from the company. So far this fall, she has written reports summarizing customer feedback, created a research database for an upcoming children’s picture book about fashion, and reported back on trends at bookstores in the Chicago area, where she lives.
“It was cool, and it got me the publishing experience and the knowledge that I really, really wanted,” Huerta said. “And the fact that that happened through Kenyon, through a Kenyon alum, was just amazing.”
Alperin, who has been with the PEP program since the beginning, has worked with 49 Kenyon students so far. She said they’ve all been “diligent, enthusiastic and creative” and she’s excited to play a role in answering their questions and exposing them to important skills in the industry.
“These skills are often used as ‘tests’ during job interviews for a role in publishing, and I want them to feel confident knowing they've already tried it,” she said. “There are still so many careers where companies only offer internships and hands-on experience for students who have the time and means to move to big cities like New York or London. I think it's so important for opportunities to be available and accessible to students, regardless of where they're based.”