A Healthy Obsession
Michaela Shaw
Michaela Shaw ’16 combines business communications and sustainability at experimental farm
Video by Joe O'Neill
Michaela Shaw '16 is constantly learning and, happily, often on the go, thanks to her summer internship at the Rodale Institute.
Founded in 1947 and located in Kutztown, Pa., the Rodale Institute is a nonprofit, 333-acre, organic farm that supports research in organic agriculture; its Farming Systems Trial is the longest-running side-by-side U.S. study to compare conventional and organic farming methods.
The farm is part of Rodale Inc., a global corporation that publishes and produces health and wellness publications and films. These include more than 75 New York Times bestsellers; Men’s Health, Women’s Health and Prevention magazines; and Al Gore’s groundbreaking documentary, An Inconvenient Truth.
Shaw says that while she initially envisioned a business-operations internship, she worked with Dickinson's Career Center staff to find an opportunity that tapped her studies as an international business & management major and environmental studies minor. A sustainability-based nonprofit with global ties offered the perfect fit.
As an intern in the institute's communications office, Shaw snaps photos for social-media distribution and works on print and Web publications. She also learns about new programming and research related to sustainable and healthy living.
“Even though I’m in the communications department, I can be out on the farm as well,” says Shaw. “It’s a really a great combination of all the things I’m interested in.”
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Published July 17, 2014