BASIS Independent McLean Seniors Continue Internships Virtually

As Virginia schools remain closed due to the state’s COVID-19 social distancing mandates, BASIS Independent McLean (BIM) 12th graders are undertaking senior internships virtually, adapting to the video and audio tools that allow professional experience training to continue as part of BASIS Independent McLean’s final senior project. For more information on BASIS Independent McLean, go to http://mclean.basisindependent.com.

Twenty-two of BASIS Independent McLean’s (BIM) seniors began internships the first week in March but since COVID-19 restrictions were put in place, senior internships were moved to strictly online. BIM Senior Projects span the final trimester of senior year and involve an off-campus research project and internship in partnership with companies and organizations around the world, and students are required to work at a public or private sector institution or enroll in a university external study program. Each senior blogs about his/her project updates as well.

Virtual internships range from William & Mary Global Research Institute, Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage to Inova Alexandria Hospital, &pizza and Library of Congress.

Senior projects/internships include:

· Kareem Baig working on The Changing Geopolitical Purpose for Chinese Investment in Africa with William & Mary's Global Research Institute

· Tad Berkery focused on Analytics with &pizza: Exploring the Perfect Combination with &pizza's DC headquarters

· Lieselotte Dubert working on A Color-Filled History with Library of Congress - Preservation Research & Testing Division

· Thomas Edelmann working on What is my Computer Really Doing? with Unanet

· Jackson Edelmann working on Economic Implications of Open Source Software with Rao Research and Consulting

· Robbi Goodyear working with Fueled Up: A Study on Petroleum-Based Fuels and their Effects, with American Fuel and Petrol Chemical Manufacturers

· Miller Hollinger focused on What Is the Culture of Virtual Reality? with Raft

· Ethan Hsiao is working on Analyzing Sentiment Analysis with Clarabridge Inc.

· Katerina Kalamatianos working with A Cup of Culture: The Role Coffee Plays in World Culture with Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage

· Audrey Kim working on The Quantification of Music: From the File Cabinet to the Cloud with George Mason University School of Music

· Kareena Kohli working with Quantifying the Relationship Between Nutrition and Neurodegenerative Diseases with Inova Alexandria Hospital

· Michael Li working on The Ability of Artificial Intelligence on Recognition with Delta Electronics Shanghai

· Sanjana Mallavarapu with Criminal Minds: The Use of Forensic Psychology to Solve Missing Persons and Cold Cases with Zolon Tech

· Pendaar Pooyan working with Mobilizing Youth Voters to Participate in the Political Process with Fairfax County Democratic Committee

· Charan Ravikumar working with Cardiovascular Abnormalities Associated with the Emergence of Alzheimer's Disease with The George Washington University Hospital

· Bhavjeet Sanghera working with Poses and Programs for Behavior: Deconstructing and Classifying Action Patterns in Adult Zebrafish, Danio Rerio with Georgetown University Center

· Nathan Shin working with Preserving Future Generations of Veterans with Uniformed Service, University of Health and Sciences

· Aanika Singh focused on Meditations Effect on Short-term Stress Responses with University of Maryland Baltimore Campus

· Charles Tai focused on Editorials, Diction, Syntax, and More: How the News Media Influences the Consumer’s Opinion with Soliel, LLC

· Kamil Urbanowski focused on Improving the Treatment of Alzheimer's Disease through Ultrasonic Disruption of the Blood-Brain Barrier with George Mason University Krasnow Institute

· Alan Yu focused on Using Published Summary Data to Assess Causal Relationships between Sleep Habits and the Risk of Lung Cancer with George Washington Columbian College of Arts & Sciences

· Shang Zhang focused on Electrostatic Stabilization of Graphene and Gold Nanoparticles in Colloidal Suspension with Laboratory of Physical Science, University of Maryland; and Andy Z., working on Improving Accessibility, Visibility, and Organization of Historical Sources and Data with Library of Congress.

“Our seniors have shown incredible adaptability and truly these virtual internships are teaching them more than career skills, but they’re also learning important life skills of flexibility and fortitude,” said Paul Geise, head of school of BASIS Independent McLean in McLean, Va.

ABOUT BASIS Independent McLean: BASIS Independent Schools offers the high-achieving BASIS Curriculum, which was founded in 1998 and educates preschool to grade 12 students at the highest international levels, preparing them to be participants, not spectators, in the 21st Century global workforce of commerce and innovation. In this 2019-2020 academic year, there are 11 schools in the network, including six independent schools in the U.S. including California, New York, and Northern Virginia; five international schools in China; and one in Bangkok.