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Justin Chen

Year: Junior

Majors: Computer Science, Sociology

Internship: Research Intern at the Torngat Wildlife Plants and Fisheries Secretariat in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Canada

What: Chen researched the impact of commercial overfishing on the indigenous communities of Canada

When he arrived in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, an isolated village with a population of less than 10,000 and a McDonald’s a full day trip away, Justin Chen was pretty instantaneously homesick. But he stuck it out. And he says what he learned while researching the impact of overfishing on indigenous communities was more than worth it. “I understood what I was capable of,” Chen said. “This was my first full-time internship work and it really affirmed my future career plans of doing social science research.”

Like many other students who work internationally in Hub-sourced internships, Chen got support before and during through the Opportunity Hub. (His internship was funded in part by LSA’s Program in International and Comparative Studies’ Arctic Internship Fellowship.)

His advice for future Hub interns? “Finding internships in general, I think it can be difficult for those students who maybe don’t know the right people or who don’t have the right connections, because I know I certainly didn’t,” Chen said. “What I like about the Hub is that it is kind of those connections to those different organizations in different parts of the world. I would definitely say students should seek help there and visit.”