Building, Bonding, and Leveling Up: Reflections from Mizzen’s 2025 Summer Interns

As Mizzen launched into one of its biggest seasons yet, we were lucky to have two incredible summer interns from opposite coasts, Sanjana Satagopan and Sophia Wang, join our Product Development (Prodev) team. From day one, they jumped into the work of building, testing, and imagining what’s next for Mizzen.

This was no small summer. Not only did they roll up their sleeves on big technical projects, but they also traveled to Washington, D.C. for a hackathon, joined forces with other interns and teams from across the country, and experienced the whirlwind of preparing for Mizzen’s platform launch. Through it all, they brought curiosity, creativity, and contagious energy to the Mizzen team.

This summer, Sanjana and Sophia helped strengthen the foundation of the reimagined Mizzen platform that launched in August. Their work focused on building and refining the behind-the-scenes systems that make Mizzen easier to improve, update, and scale, ensuring that the platform felt reliable, intuitive, and ready to grow with the needs of educators.

They designed workflows with accessibility in mind, ensuring the Mizzen team could test and refine new features before launch. That focus on usability gave Mizzen the capacity to continue evolving in ways that educators will feel every time they log in.

“One key lesson I’ll carry forward from this internship is how to work effectively within a team under tight deadlines and high-stakes timelines, like during the Mizzen launch. I also gained a deeper appreciation for the time, thought, and creativity it takes to develop high-quality learning activities.” - Sanjana, 2025 Mizzen Summer Intern

Their summer-long project culminated in a full-team demo, where they presented their work to the entire organization and saw just how much their efforts would matter as Mizzen grows.

Midway through the summer, Sanjana and Sophia joined Alex Jergensen, Head of Product, and Anton Nikolov, Head of Engineering at Mizzen, in Washington, D.C. for the Build4Good Hackathon, a gathering of students, engineers, and social impact organizations tackling real-world challenges with technology.

In just 48 hours, their team designed and built a web app that makes civic datasets more accessible by translating everyday language into database queries using Large Language Models (LLMs). It was a crash course in collaboration, creativity, and pressure-testing ideas. For Sophia, it was her very first hackathon, and the pace was both exhilarating and inspiring. For Sanjana, the panels and presentations sparked reflection about her own career path, helping her see which areas of computer science she most wants to explore.

Between sprints, they balanced building and belonging through shared team meals, exploring museums, and even tackling an escape room challenge. Those lighter moments deepened connections, turning teammates into mentors and colleagues into friends. They also got to cheer on Alex, who joined a Fireside Chat led by New America as a panelist, giving them the chance to see Mizzen represented in a national conversation while being part of the energy in the room themselves.

“This was my first time participating in a hackathon and the exciting, fast-paced environment definitely made me want to go to more in the future. It was really fun working with the other Build4Good interns to ideate, design, and build out our project and see the projects others made. Bonding with my fellow intern Sanjana, the Mizzen Product team, and the other Build4Good interns was a highlight.” - Sophia, 2025 Mizzen Summer Intern

The Hackathon became a microcosm of what internships are meant to be: a chance to test skills, stretch into new spaces, and discover more about yourself while contributing to something meaningful.

For Alex and Anton, welcoming Sanjana and Sophia was also a chance to invite two new voices into a team working under the pressure of a major platform launch. Through being a part of the build, our interns saw what it looks like to juggle competing priorities, iterate quickly, and deliver work that impacts thousands of educators.

That perspective shaped Prodev too. Alex reflected on the experience of hosting Mizzen’s first interns:

“The Build4Good team did an amazing job finding candidates for us. Anton and I interviewed only Sophia and Sanjana and they felt like a great fit from the beginning. They both are incredibly busy college students, but were able to work on our projects and attend learning sessions along the way. While scheduling a dynamic group such as ours was sometimes difficult, we made it work for their 20 hours a week! If all intern experiences were this positive, I think we’d all be clamoring for interns more frequently.” - Alex Jergensen, Head of Product, Mizzen Education 

Anton echoed how impressed he was by their contributions:

“Sophia and Sanjana were incredibly talented and impressive. They jumped in, learned our processes, and made an immediate impact. As rising sophomores their skills exceeded my expectations technically. I don’t know what I was doing as a rising sophomore, but it sure wasn’t nearly at half the level they are bringing now.” - Anton Nikolov, Head of Engineering, Mizzen Education 

It became clear that mentorship ran both ways. While the interns learned from Mizzen’s product development experts about shipping in a high-stakes environment, Alex and Anton also learned from them, picking up fresh approaches, new perspectives, and emerging practices from the next generation of technologists. 

For both sides, the experience was proof that internships are about teaching, learning, and building something better together.

Beyond the code and deadlines, some of the most memorable moments were the simple, everyday ones that built connection. There were the team lunches in D.C. that turned into career conversations, the quick Slack check-ins that sparked laughter, and even Anton’s dog making cameo appearances during Zoom meetings!

When asked to sum up their summer with a theme song, Sanjana chose “Diva” by Beyoncé, a nod to the hustle of the launch preparation. Sophia picked “Next Levels” by King Geedorah, a reflection of how much she grew in just a few short months!

As they wrap up their internships, Sanjana and Sophia leave behind perspective, ideas, and energy that helped shape the relaunch of Mizzen’s platform. Their work is part of the reason educators logging in today see a platform that is more intuitive, reliable, and built for growth.

Their impact reminds us that innovation comes from people who bring curiosity, courage, and their full selves to the challenge of supporting educators and young people. In that sense, Sophia and Sanjana modeled the very spirit Mizzen exists to nurture: learning, adapting, and leveling up together.

We’re grateful for all they contributed this summer, and we’re excited to watch how they carry this experience forward, knowing their next chapters will be as bold and meaningful as the work they did here!

Want to see the platform they helped bring to life? Explore the reimagined Mizzen at mizzen.org for free, high-quality K-12 learning resources and tools created for out-of-school time educators.