Summer Intern Reflections: Projects That Made an Impact
This summer, our interns have had the opportunity to contribute to meaningful projects that are making a real impact across our community. Along the way, they've built new skills, tackled complex challenges, and gained valuable hands-on experience. Here are a few reflections from our summer interns about the projects they've worked on and what they've learned along the way.
Intern Matt Shares
My experience with enFocus this summer has been incredibly rewarding. I was assigned to the City of Elkhart's Best Practices Research Project, where our team researched and analyzed data to develop recommendations for zoning and building fee structures.
Much of my work focused on analyzing data in Excel and using different functions to identify trends and support our recommendations. Even though my internship has gone by quickly, I've felt like an important contributor to the project. Working on such a collaborative team has also strengthened my leadership and communication skills while giving me hands-on experience solving a real-world challenge.
Intern Sebastian Shares
This summer, I've had the opportunity to lead the development of a Raspberry Pi-based timestamp logging system designed to support manufacturing process analysis. The goal of the project is to create an affordable, portable tool that captures key production events and generates structured data for future process improvement.
Throughout the project, I've researched hardware options, developed the Python software, designed the data architecture, and tested different approaches for storing and analyzing production data. Along the way, I've expanded my technical skills in Raspberry Pi development, Python programming, hardware integration, and data management.
Beyond the technical work, I've gained experience making engineering decisions by weighing trade-offs between simplicity, scalability, and usability. Before my internship ends, I'm looking forward to integrating physical push buttons into the system, completing the transition to JSONL data storage, and continuing to build a solution that can support automated manufacturing analytics and real-world process improvement.
Intern Allyssa Shares
Coming into my enFocus internship, I wasn't entirely sure what to expect. Since enFocus does consulting-style work, I knew very little about consulting beyond its reputation for being fast-paced and challenging.
And it is challenging. I spent the beginning of my first project learning as I went. My project focused on redesigning the data intake system for a refugee resettlement nonprofit while developing long-term recommendations for its overall data management strategy. I had never been in a role where I was the primary point of contact, advisor, and subject matter expert all at once. At first, the scope of the project felt overwhelming, and I questioned whether I was capable of taking it on.
What stood out most about enFocus was the balance between independence and support. I had the freedom to develop creative solutions and truly own my work, while always having guidance available when I needed it. Lauren, the loveliest managing Fellow in the entire world, was an incredible source of support throughout the project, helping me think through timelines and solution design while encouraging me to take ownership of the work.
Overall, enFocus has given me a unique opportunity to build meaningful relationships with project stakeholders and experience the kind of ownership that isn't common in many internships.
Intern Conner Shares
This summer, I've been working on the Joint Community Health Needs Assessment through enFocus, with a focus on the healthcare access audit. One of my primary responsibilities has been leading the design of the sampling method used to select healthcare facilities for the audit.
This involved identifying and categorizing facilities across St. Joseph, Elkhart, and Marshall counties and developing a sampling process that ensures we collect data representative of the region's healthcare landscape.
I've enjoyed taking ownership of an important piece of the project while building my skills in research, data analysis, and project planning. It's rewarding to know that our work can help identify barriers to healthcare access and inform future community health initiatives. I'm excited to see the results of the audit and help turn our findings into recommendations that can make a meaningful impact across the region.
