Student Involvement

Are you interested in helping create a strong, vibrant, local food system?

New Entry’s mission is to promote sustainable agriculture and help to strengthen local food systems. We offer a variety of opportunities for summer internships, directed-study, research projects, and work-study employment. New Entry appreciates the diverse backgrounds and excellent qualifications of students from various degree programs, colleges, and universities.

We provide a living laboratory where students and others can apply classroom knowledge and develop practical skills to create public impact and transform local and regional food systems. New Entry interns have contributed by conducting research, developing educational guides and training curricula, assisting in delivering our Farm Business Planning Course, creating marketing materials for the Food Hub, designing new courses, identifying land for potential farms, developing program monitoring and evaluation plans, researching farm labor regulations, and more. Explore the experiences of our past interns to learn more below!

New Entry Work Study and Internship Opportunities - 2025: 

New Entry’s mission is to promote sustainable agriculture and help to strengthen local food systems. We offer a variety of opportunities for summer internships, directed-study, research projects, and work-study employment. New Entry appreciates the diverse backgrounds and excellent qualifications of students from various degree programs, colleges, and universities. Examples of prior student involvement reflect a range of learning opportunities. 

Open opportunities:


Food Hub and Communications Intern

During this internship you will support New Entry’s Food Hub, focusing on enhancing communication and customer engagement for our Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), wholesale, and school programs. You will take charge of creating and disseminating content through our weekly Food Hub newsletter, spotlighting farmer stories, sharing recipes, and providing crop storage tips. Responsibilities also include managing CSA customer lists, handling customer service inquiries, conducting and analyzing surveys, and supporting the Food Hub Manager with warehouse logistics and communications. In this role you will assist weekly in packing shares for distribution to CSA and wholesale customers. A significant aspect of this internship will involve developing strategies to enhance customer engagement and retention, requiring analysis of customer feedback and survey data to inform our practices. You will also have opportunities to support field work and our mobile market.

If you are interested in this position, please read the full description here

To apply, submit your application using this link. If you have any questions, please contact Eduardo Tovar Lopez at eduardo.tovar_lopez@tufts.edu

Deadline to apply: March 16th, 2025


National Survey and Conference Planning Intern

In this role, you will be primarily responsible for analyzing the results of a National FIELD Network survey, mapping respondents of the FIELD Network,  and conducting 3 case studies / interviews showcasing successful models in the network. Outputs from quantitative and qualitative data include creation of resulting infographics and reports for publication on New Entry’s website. Your responsibilities will also include event support for the 2025 annual FIELD School on a needs basis including developing email campaigns in MailChimp, attending Event Planning Meetings, and supporting Program Agenda.

If you are interested in this position, please read the full description here.

To apply, submit your application using this link. If you have any questions, please contact Eduardo Tovar Lopez at eduardo.tovar_lopez@tufts.edu

Deadline to apply: March 16th, 2025


Hydroponics Curriculum Intern

New Entry is seeking a Hydroponics Intern to assist with updating and enhancing a hydroponics curriculum that has already been created. This role focuses on elevating the course to the next level by adding new written and multimedia content, including videos and highlights, and updating the course platform on Canvas. The intern will visit hydroponic farms and installations to gather insights, conduct interviews, and create engaging content that captures innovative practices. Additional responsibilities include supporting the development and distribution of the curriculum on New Entry’s website and creating a communication campaign. The role also includes assisting with farm production and distribution needs at New Entry’s Beverly location on Moraine Farm.

If you are interested in this position, please read the full description here.

To apply, submit your application using this link. If you have any questions, please contact Eduardo Tovar Lopez at eduardo.tovar_lopez@tufts.edu

Deadline to apply: March 16th, 2025


Food Safety Intern

Assist with food safety outreach to New Entry farmers and creation and revision of existing Food Safety training documents. Help organize and develop materials for grower Produce Safety Alliance (PSA) and Commonwealth Quality Program (CQP) trainings. Support program staff to conduct site visits to farms to conduct mock food safety audits and assess readiness for food safety certification programs. Other responsibilities include supporting production and distribution needs for the New Entry farm and Food Hub. The role will be in person at New Entry’s Beverly location on Moraine Farm. 

If you are interested in this position, please read the full description here.

To apply, submit your application using this link. If you have any questions, please contact Eduardo Tovar Lopez at eduardo.tovar_lopez@tufts.edu

Deadline to apply: March 16th, 2025


Farmer Training and Practicum Course TA Intern

In this role, you will be primarily responsible for helping coordinate the second iteration of our practicum course. This will involve developing materials for the course and managing our Canvas platform. You will coordinate and participate in both classroom and field components of the practicum, helping lead hands-on activities and course evaluation. Your responsibilities will also include creating SOPs for the practicum, aiding in the continuous improvement of the course. Additionally, you will play a key role in outreach, disseminating project information through newsletters and our website, and supporting our Farmer Training team. You will also contribute to New Entry outreach, create resources for incubator farmers, and help facilitate volunteer experiences. 

If you are interested in this position, please read the full description here.

To apply, submit your application using this link. If you have any questions, please contact Eduardo Tovar Lopez at eduardo.tovar_lopez@tufts.edu

Deadline to apply: March 16th, 2025


Evaluation and Course Development Intern

During this this internship will analyze workshop evaluation surveys to create visuals and summaries, assessing program effectiveness. Additionally, you'll develop a 6-month post-workshop survey and devise strategies to enhance farmer participation. You will also help with the development of a new course on growing under cover/high tunnels. This course will be developed in parallel with a workshop series, which you will help coordinate. You will assist in creating the Canvas platform for the course, writing summaries for each course module (based on the workshops), compiling supplemental resources, visiting farms to create farm highlights and more. You will also help shape the evaluation plan for this project, finalize surveys to assess the impact of each workshop, and participate in outreach by creating flyers and developing educational content for social media. Beyond these tasks, you would also be involved in volunteer engagement, support New Entry's communication strategies, and engaging in outreach activities.

If you are interested in this position, please read the full description here.

To apply, submit your application using this link. If you have any questions, please contact Eduardo Tovar Lopez at eduardo.tovar_lopez@tufts.edu

Deadline to apply: March 16th, 2025


Data Analysis and Financial Documentation Intern

This internship will support the training team with our Small Farm Financial Benchmarking study.  Key responsibilities include developing and organizing educational workshops for farmers on effective record-keeping, creating resources to demystify financial benchmarking data, and enhancing farmer engagement through targeted outreach efforts. You'll also participate in data collection and analysis, including coding for data visualization to present individual farmer's financial metrics, necessitating proficiency in R or Excel. Additionally, you will document the benchmarking process, draft reports highlighting key findings, and develop standard operating procedures (SOPs) for data entry into the national farm financial database for use in future studies. This role will also involve participating in volunteer engagement, and outreach to institutions and at community events.

If you are interested in this position, please read the full description here.

To apply, submit your application using this link. If you have any questions, please contact Eduardo Tovar Lopez at eduardo.tovar_lopez@tufts.edu

Deadline to apply: March 16th, 2025

 


 

Prior Interns Projects

Kayla Laddin

Kayla collaborated on a range of projects, including creating surveys, analyzing data to produce reports, compiling resources, conducting research, and designing website content. She also contributed to creating posters and engaging with the community. In addition to these tasks, Kayla participated in hands-on work, such as weeding and harvesting on the farm, as well as assisting with Food Hub operations, including organizing CSA boxes. These activities helped foster strong connections among interns and staff. A highlight of the summer was collaborating with members of the local Council on Aging. Kayla and the team demonstrated ways to use the produce in CSA boxes, discussed volunteer opportunities with New Entry, and shared recipes and stories, making this experience especially rewarding.

“New Entry is truly a special place. My internship not only enhanced my skills in data analysis, graphic design, and farming but also significantly developed my interpersonal and relationship-building skills in the workplace. The supportive environment created by the staff and fellow interns made me feel welcomed and inspired. Their energy and passion for the work motivated me to dive deeper and produce my best work.”

Ellie Hohenstein

Ellie interned at New Entry from fall of 2023 through the summer of 2024 working on building and teaching the first iteration of New Entry's Practicum in Sustainable Agriculture. In the fall, winter, and spring, Ellie researched existing sustainable agriculture courses, created the Practicum Skills Book to guide learning objectives, and helped the New Entry team create the structure and schedule for the course. In the summer she had the exciting task of helping to teach the course both in the classroom and out in the field! From here, Ellie hopes to use her experience at New Entry to guide her in a career in the intersection of agriculture and education.

Samuel Siaw

Samuel’s internship with New Entry combined analytical tasks with practical farm work. He contributed to survey analysis and report writing, assessing the effectiveness of key programs. He also developed surveys for a new grant focused on undercover growing, designing tools to improve data collection. Samuel set up a Canvas course to support the educational component of this grant and compiled a resource directory along with online tools to provide farmers with key information on undercover growing practices. In the field, he participated in weeding, harvesting, and packaging produce for delivery, directly engaging with essential farm operations.

“Reflecting on my internship, it was not just the work that made it memorable but the entire experience. I met new people who shared my passion for sustainable agriculture, received unwavering support from the entire New Entry Staff, and enjoyed fun moments with fellow interns. The fresh vegetables we had every Monday were a delightful perk (wooooo). Above all, I learned so much about agriculture. This internship has been a truly enriching experience that has left me with lasting knowledge and cherished memories.”

Arthi Sumanth

As the Mobile Market intern, Arthi's project was to help run the market at various sites across the North Shore and develop a customer impact survey to assess the outcomes of the Mobile Market among its patrons. The idea was to implement and analyze this survey in the future after several weeks of consistent operations. Additionally, she assisted with the day-to-day operations of the Food Hub and Mobile Market by packing wholesale produce orders and creating outreach materials. Arthi was also able to understand the back-end operations of setting up and running a mobile market, which has numerous steps such as acquiring SNAP/HIP, choosing host sites, ordering produce, and doing outreach.

“It was incredibly meaningful to be able to see all sides of the Food Hub, from meeting the farmers and touring their farms to interacting with the Mobile Market customers. Being able to speak to those that were directly receiving the Mobile Market produce really highlighted the potential impact of the market with long term operations. Promoting HIP and seeing customers realize that they could buy way more produce than they had expected made me further value the importance of programs and initiatives that are truly changing the way people are able to eat.”

Anna Mason

Anna conducted an ethnography of a collection of past and current students of the New Entry farmer training curriculum. She sought to discover both what was most and least effective for new farmers in their learning, as well as what values were being consciously and unconsciously communicated in the classroom. This project also made use of the annual alumni survey that New Entry conducts to all people who have ever taken a NESFP workshop or course. Her findings were also meant to inform future surveys to improve their quality and result interpretability. Through her qualitative interviewing and subsequent transcript coding, she found there were questions about the challenges of viability in being a farm business owner in the Massachusetts area - with ever shrinking land opportunities, markets that demand niche and sustainably grown food, as well as limited resource availability, often times people have had to pivot their plans in order to make due. During her time with the New Entry farmer training team, Anna helped design and assist with curriculum delivery, conducted community outreach upon the NESFP location move to the North Shore, redesigned the annual alumni survey, and organized its past results.

Having the ability to combine my interests in adult technical education and sustainable farming in my internship was invaluable. I saw what it takes to make a small non-profit run, while at the same time having the freedom to design my own project for my undergraduate degree. I got hands-on experience in both the (literal!) field as well as the classroom, and identified my passions for storytelling during my ethnographic interviewing with New Entry’s alumni.”

Ellen Schramm

Ellen helped with the Farm Business Planning Course: preparing materials, assisting the course instructor and aiding students in completing their business plans.

 “I gained a much more meaningful understanding of business planning for an agricultural operation.  I became familiar with the many and diverse businesses being pursued by the Farm Business Planning Course's students, which was as much a learning experience for them as it was for me.  I was able to offer my knowledge of farm production practices, as well as, marketing, while they inspired me with their unique and creative ideas. Assisting New Entry in their mission to help new farmers realize their dreams was as important for its students as it was for my education of our modern agricultural landscape.”

Meaghan Overton

Meaghan worked with the National Incubator Farm Training Initiative (NIFTI) to write a guide to the planning and development of farm incubator projects. She gathered extensive data on farm incubator projects through surveys and case study interviews, co-authored the Farm Incubators: Lessons From the Field toolkit, and provided design assistance.

“Farm incubator projects are such an exciting model for new and beginning farmer development, and the growth in the number of farm incubators over the last decade has been incredible. Because so many farm incubators are relatively new, it is crucial to collect and share best practices gathered from projects across the country. I enjoyed working directly with NIFTI’s project partners and other farm incubator staff to learn first-hand about their challenges and successes in supporting new and beginning farmer development. I hope that the guide we developed will help farm incubator projects build strong, sustainable programs.”

Eva Agudelo

Eva was the teaching assistant for New Entry’s Farm Business Planning class for four cycles and had the opportunity to lecture and lead class discussions and activities on topics such as marketing, financial management, crop planning, record keeping, and risk management for small-scale sustainable farms. She also interned on New Entry’s incubator farm site, where she did weekly field scouting, led field trainings, and did basic farm maintenance. Additional work with New Entry included a directed study project on creating the Beginning Farmer Network of Massachusetts, a statewide network of service providers for beginning farmers.

My time as an intern at New Entry provided invaluable experience working on-the-ground with farmers in a service-oriented environment. I was able to hone my non-profit and organizational development skills, which was an excellent complement to the more abstract academic work of completing my degree. Teaching farmers in a classroom setting and in the field was both educational and extremely gratifying and has proved quite useful in my current professional career.”