It’s been a hectic summer at Boston City Hall. In addition to hosting dozens of free arts and cultural events, there was the launch of the Boston Rodent Action Plan (BRAP), a new coordinated multiagency initiative to mitigate the rodent population in the city, as well as a first-ever citywide participatory budgeting initiative and a new Boston E-Bikes incentive program, which provides discount vouchers for residents who want to purchase an e-Bike. There was also the allocation of nearly $4 million to support job training and education programs and $40 million in funding for the construction of affordable housing projects. 

And that’s just for starters. But perhaps the most exciting news to come out of City Hall this summer was Mayor Michelle Wu’s announcement that she is expecting a baby in January. 

What does it take to keep a city of 650,000 residents running smoothly? How do you ensure that City Hall’s 19 departments, 19,000 employees, and an operating budget of $4.6 billion perform efficiently to meet Bostonians’ needs? Each year a few BU students get a chance to find out for themselves when they are selected as BU City Scholars Summer Fellows. The program, funded by BU’s Office of Government & Community Affairs, provides an opportunity for full-time rising juniors and seniors who are Thomas M. Menino Scholarship or Boston Community Service Award recipients to spend 10 weeks interning with various City Hall departments, working for City Council members, conducting research, writing reports, and helping to address the needs of constituents across the city. This year, 10 students were selected to take part in the program. And they weren’t the only Terriers interning in Government Plaza. An additional three students spent the summer as BU Initiative on Cities Summer Interns and Fellows.

We asked this year’s BU City Scholars Summer Fellows to share some reflections of what they learned this summer working at City Hall and how the experience may shape their future career plans. Take a look.