Sailing passion becomes internship for Emma Salvatore

Emma Salvatore ’23

This semester, senior Emma Salvatore from Walpole, MA, is combining her passion for sailing with an internship opportunity by working as an intern at U.S. Sailing.

Salvatore is an economics major and math minor with an interest in sailing going back a long way since she grew up sailing with her family on her grandparents’ boat. In 2020 when the COVID pandemic sent Saint Michael’s students home, Salvatore took a trip to Rhode Island, New Jersey, and back to Massachusetts that reignited her interest in sailing.

Salvatore came across her recent internship with U.S. Sailing through a Saint Michael’s pop-up course, “Careers With Purpose” with Career Education Coach Tim Birmingham. The course covered how to build a resume and LinkedIn page, how to find different opportunities that aligned with your strengths, and emphasized connecting your interests with your career.

“While taking the course, I realized that I wanted to connect my career to my passion for sailing,” Salvatore said. After the class, Salvatore began to look for jobs that related to sailing, and came across this internship on the U.S. Sailing website. Salvatore then applied for the internship, had an interview, and began the internship in January.

Salvatore has been working as a remote intern in the Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Department at U.S. Sailing. For her internship, Salvatore conducted research focusing on inclusive sailing clubs and developed outreach plans.

“I have been working on a project where we have been researching diverse and inclusive sailing clubs and organizations across the United States,” she said. “After we created a database outlining these organizations, we developed a plan to reach out to them and inform them of the resources U.S. Sailing has to offer to support their programs.”

Further, Salvatore said, this outreach aimed to create an opportunity to engage in conversation surrounding sailing programs to learn more about how they developed a successful approach and what they would like to see from U.S. Sailing in terms of their DEI initiatives.

Through this internship, Salvatore learned about the importance of DEI work and the needs of minority groups. “It was extremely rewarding to learn about organizations creating spaces for inclusive sailing, as well as see what kinds of programs are available for minority groups,” she said. “It was also rewarding to be doing work that would help bring people together and enjoy the sport of sailing.”

In addition, the internship gave Salvatore the opportunity to learn how a non-profit organization runs, and provided her experience in a professional environment.

Although this internship is unpaid, Salvatore received the Henry “Bud” Boucher Award. The award is a grant offered through the Career Education Center for unpaid interns making a social impact. Salvatore enjoyed her experience as an intern and she highly recommends that students consider taking the Career With Purpose pop-up if it is offered again.