Hi all! My name is Rhea Choudhury and I’m currently pursuing an MBA at Harvard Business School. I was lucky enough to work for the National Park Service (NPS) this summer as a Business Plan Internship (BPI) Consultant with the Submerged Resources Center (SRC). The SRC is the NPS’ national dive program, responsible for documentation, research, and maintenance of shipwrecks, reefs, downed WWII planes, boat docks, and everything in between. My role was to help them design a more sustainable operating and funding model to ensure their long-term viability within the park service.

Before I began my first year at HBS, I was a medical device engineer working on products for the OR and the ICU. This work inspired my passion for access and equity in healthcare, but I was not quite sure how to translate this interest into my future career.

Annika Roise is a second-year MBA student at the MIT Sloan School of Management. As a summer consultant for the National Parks Business Plan Internship (BPI), Annika developed an asset utilization and prioritization process for vacant and underutilized buildings at Point Reyes National Seashore, to enable the park to implement a long-term investment/divestment strategy. 

She joined us at the end of the summer to reflect on her experience. 

What drew you to this internship?
I think what initially drew me to the BPI was just seeing ‘National Park Service’ on the MIT job board and thinking how different a public sector opportunity was next to all the other internships. When I looked a little bit more at the role itself, though, I was drawn to the fact that it would allow me to use the skills acquired from my consulting background, but in the context of a new industry and getting some government exposure. I was also really interested in pursuing general social impact or public service-related work, so that aspect was also appealing. 

Meredith Randolph is a second year MPP student at the University of Virginia’s Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. As a summer consultant for the National Parks Business Plan Internship (BPI), Meredith worked to ensure the sustainability of the public-private partnership between Gettysburg National Military Park and the Gettysburg Foundation (GF) to reduce barriers to visitation, improve visitor experience, and promote the partnership’s shared goals.

Meredith joined us at the end of the summer to reflect on her BPI experience.

Tell us about your experience at orientation. What were your main takeaways?
The week was awesome. For our cohort, it was a week in the Grand Canyon, so I was going in with high expectations. Starting from the interview process and then onboarding and throughout the orientation week, I was consistently impressed with the Purposeful Growth Institute (PGI) and the NPS Business Management Group’s (BMG) organization, communication, and expectation setting, so that sense of structure really set the tone. 

Jessie Ralph is a second-year Social Impact MBA student at Boston University’s Questrom School of Business. Jessie spent her summer as a Consultant for the National Parks Business Plan Internship (BPI), during which she developed an asset utilization and prioritization process for Cuyahoga Valley National Park.

Jessie joined us at the end of the summer to reflect on her BPI experience. 

What initially drew you to this internship?
I think just hearing the name piqued my curiosity. When someone was describing what they had done over the summer and said “I worked for the National Park Service”, I thought, “Oh, that’s interesting!” and I wanted to learn more.  That led me to dig a little bit deeper and talk to a BPI alum at my school.

It’s funny thinking back on it now because I can’t believe I ever considered doing something else. I came into the MBA with a plan to do the [EDF] Climate Corps Fellowship and focus on corporate sustainability. That was an internship that a lot of people I knew in the space had done and spoke very highly of, so I kind of had blinders on. I told my career coach, “This is the internship that I want to do.” The National Park Service opportunity kind of came out of left field. It is an organization that is very much aligned with what I’m passionate about, that I have a lot of respect for, and that I would love to work for, but I had just never thought it was an option. 

Amy Roach (she/her) is a second-year MPP student at the Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan. As a summer consultant for the National Parks Business Plan Internship (BPI), Amy developed an integrated commercial services strategy for Voyageurs National Park and its visitors.

What initially drew you to the BPI?
I heard about the internship through our career center because the staff knew I was interested in environmental policy. When they flagged the BPI for me, my first thought was actually, “This is more business-oriented, and not for me.” But then I met with another Ford student who had done the program the previous year and she took me through a mock case. As we were sitting there, walking through the problem and brainstorming what we would do, I realized, “Oh, this isn’t just business, this is policy,” because you’re trying to think through things like, ‘What are the different options?’ ‘How would different people react?’ It was in that moment that I knew I had to apply. Yes, there is a business aspect – you’re probably going to look at budgets and do some type of financial analysis. But helping your client think through all of the possible solutions to a problem is very much what you do in the policy world.

Lily Bishop is a dual MBA + MS in Design Innovation (MMM) at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management and McCormick School of Engineering. As a summer consultant for the National Parks Business Plan Internship (BPI), Lily developed recommendations for the leadership team at Independence National Historical Park (INDE) to optimize use of physical space across all park buildings for employee well-being, operating efficiency, revenue potential, and visitor experience.

We sat down with Lily at the end of the summer to talk about her BPI experience.

PGI: Let’s talk about what drew you initially to this internship, amongst the many options that were available.