Student Shante Slender Returns to MITRE for Second Internship

Eastern Nazarene College (ENC) students are finding ways to participate in summer internships despite the challenges of COVID-19.

Shante Slender, senior Electrical Engineering major at ENC, is returning to MITRE for a second internship, but this time as part of the remote workforce.

MITRE is a not-for-profit organization, serving the public interest in many areas of cutting-edge science and technology. In a posting on the MITRE web site, Nicole Gilmore, MITRE’s director of leadership and management development is quoted as follows: “MITRE is well positioned to provide talented students an enriching and fun virtual summer experience. Our team is committed to supporting hiring managers, while also finding innovative ways for our interns to discover, create, and lead, despite the challenging times we’re in.”

Shante comes to ENC from Kayenta, Arizona, located within the Navajo Nation. Her senior design project is an application to help Native youth better understand the origins of their clan associations. She also participates on the ENC Women’s Basketball Team.

Asked about her academic experience at ENC, Shante said: “Being part of the engineering program at ENC has definitely prepared me for the outside world. I am consistently being challenged throughout the semesters and guided in the right direction of how to solve real-world problems.” Shante told us the classmates and faculty in the program are supportive and always willing to help: “The Electrical Engineering program at ENC truly showed me their dedication to seeing their students succeed.”

Dr. Pierre-Richard Cornely, ENC Professor of Physics & Engineering and Science Division Chair said this about the program: “ENC provides a unique experience to its students. This experience is anchored in an overall preparation via the liberal arts, a project driven education model, senior design for product design and research experience and internship opportunities as an entry point to many companies in the Massachusetts area and the entire United States.”

Shante says her life at ENC “has been amazing.” After her graduation in spring of 2021, she hopes to become a full-time employee at MITRE, residing within the Boston area.