Internship Host Firm: Goody Clancy

The Program

Each year, the Architecture/Design High School Internship invites firms to host high school interns for a 6-week architecture experience. High school interns, Boston Public School (BPS) students (Grades 10-12), are immersed into the fundamentals of architecture, the design process, and their first professional experience. For the program’s duration each July-August, firms host the interns in the office 3-4 days per week with all interns gathering on Fridays with the BSA. All firms are supported by program partners, the Boston Society for Architecture (BSA) and the Boston Private Industry Council (PIC), who aim to provide early career pathways for local youth. This year's program is supported by the AIA College of Fellows.

During this summer’s internship, the BSA stopped by host firms to hear from interns about their experience and connect with design professionals involved in the internship. We’ll be chronicling lessons from the visits through our Firm Profile series and encourage you to follow along.

The Firm

Goody Clancy began participating in 2018 as an early supporter of the program, hosting 2 interns each summer since. As a firm working in higher education, participating in the high school internship and its feeder program, Architecture/Design Thinking Week, are extensions of their commitment to education.

This summer, the firm hosted Caleb Depina, rising freshman at Cummings Tech, and Susana Alvarez Ruiz, rising freshman at Wentworth Institute of Technology. For Caleb, this was his first architecture experience after finding his interest during BSA’s Architecture/Design Thinking Week. For Susana, who had participated in a variety of programs throughout high school, the internship was the vehicle she was looking for to gain professional experience before architecture school.

The Approach

Over the years, Goody Clancy has refined its core internship model and the staffing structures to support it. Their internship, which aims to immerse interns into the firm’s project work, initially included 1 project per week for 6 weeks. Through intern and staff feedback, they shifted to 2 weeks per project and streamlined to involve 3 project teams. Rather than showing interns every phase of the architectural process, they now select projects to show the range from early conceptual design through construction.

Scaling back on highlighted firm projects allowed for the addition of an independent design project, which was incorporated from past interns' requests. The design project fosters independence and provides interns with a new way to channel skills learned each week. This year’s project asked interns to design a public pavilion in a nearby park, understanding the site's patterns, and how the design can benefit its users.

During their 4 in-office days (Monday-Thursday), interns’ time is balanced between independent work time, facilitated lessons, and meetings. Their days begin and end with independent work blocks dedicated to advancing their design project. Each morning and early afternoon, interns rotate through a mix of project check-ins, mini courses, or skill workshops depending on the weekday. The schedule benefits interns and staff equally, having interns foster independence and time management, while providing staff a structure to balance the internship with existing project work.

Interns begin their week with Design Discovery, a mini course with a set facilitator to dive into the foundations of design and learn key skills (site-analysis, sketching, model-making, etc) they will utilize in their project work. Skill building continues each week through the Skills Workshop. Each workshop is taught by a different staff facilitator and provides an outlet to highlight other aspects of the firm (graphics, marketing, sustainability, etc.) into the interns’ learning. This is an outlet to involve additional staff and showcase the variety of skillsets, educational backgrounds, and roles at the firm. These weekly offerings, as well as project meetings and lunch and learns, aim to expand the interns’ perspectives on architecture and integrate them into the firm.

To supplement the in-office experience, staff also guide interns to a new site each week, showcasing a mix of key architectural sites and Goody Clancy projects. The facilitators use these site visits as outdoor lessons, often incorporating sketching and spatial analysis into the tours.

The Logistics

Similar to other host firms, the interns spend 4-days per week (Monday-Thursday) in the office. All interns spend Fridays off-site with BSA K-12 for their Summer Fridays series.

To plan and coordinate the internship, Goody Clancy has a core internship team, composed of emerging professionals at varying levels in their career. As individuals grow into new responsibilities at the firm, they rotate off of the core team and train someone new in their place. To balance the responsibilities for the internship, they share the schedule each spring with the firm to get others involved. Having more staff spread across the 6 weeks, and focusing each person’s engagement to a select role, has created a sustainable approach to support the internship.

The Staff Experience

The firm’s focus on centering emerging professionals’ involvement in the program over the years has created a network of young design professionals at the firm that all share a similar ethos when it comes to investing in the next generation. When talking with the core team, each expressed a few core tenants guiding their approach to the internship including: 1) providing the mentorship and guidance for interns to make informed decisions, and 2) fostering a healthy environment for interns to express themselves through design. Although they’re supporting the interns, the internship is also an outlet for their own professional growth; the experience fosters management and leadership, as well as facilitation, public speaking, and communication skills which follow them into their careers.

The Impact

Both Goody Clancy high school interns were recent BPS grads, ready for a professional experience before entering college.

For Caleb, now in his first year at Cummings Tech, his interest in the architecture internship track began when his school’s career specialist encouraged him to attend BSA’s Architecture/Design Thinking Week. During the week, he shared how much he enjoyed the design process, communicating his ideas, and working collaboratively. This experience encouraged him to jump into this summer at Goody Clancy to continue channeling his design ideas and gaining skills before college.

For Susana, now in her first year at Wentworth, she had already solidified her interest in architecture, but was looking for a professional opportunity to learn more before school. She had participated in a variety of programs, including BSA’s Architecture/Design Thinking Week, a Designery program, and her school’s engineering pathway. “I've always been interested in architecture, the design aspect, and also the collaboration with other people. I wanted something that was more serious in the field and to explore how it will be after college.” After many design education programs, the high school internship provided the exact opportunity she was looking for. Susana is entering architecture school with a network of supporters from this experience, including their insights and advice, as she begins her own path.

Both Caleb and Susana shared how appreciative they were for the opportunity at Goody Clancy. While Caleb shared how comfortable he felt with the team and how it helped him in his experience, Susana underscored that there are not many professional opportunities like this for students. These opportunities are vital for local students not only to learn about architecture, but to see themselves in the profession.

As Susana shared, the opportunities for students are currently limited. For firms considering hosting a high school intern, Designer Sneha Ameya shared that despite the potential obstacles hindering a firm from getting involved, "this is an important investment because you’re training the next generation of people coming into the industry.” Designer Muna El-Taha also encouraged other firms to consider hosting: “If you care about the future of architecture and design and the profession, you should join. Start investing now. This is a fun way to invest and to get those in your firm involved.”

Thank You

This program is made possible by a network of collaborators at each firm, working to plan and facilitate the high school intern’s experience. Thank you to the Goody Clancy team, with special thanks to Internship Coordinators/Mentors, Sneha Ameya, Alicia Does, and Muna El-Taha; and Design Discovery Instructor, Zac Gaudet. Thank you also to the AIA College of Fellows for their support of the 2025 Architecture/Design High School Internship program.

Get Involved

With a significant gap between interested applicants (400+ across AEC) and current architecture placements (15), we are seeking additional firms to get involved for the 2026 high school internship. Not only will new participating firms have the support of the BSA and PIC, but a network of current host firms who are available to share insights, tools/resources, and more.

We are currently seeking firms to sign on to host for the 2026 season. To learn more and to get involved, please email Taylor Johnson (BSA), [email protected].