Miles College’s Nile Bennett Made HBCU History as Intern With Yale Environmental Program

By Sym Posey | The Birmingham Times Being part of the first group of Historically Black College and University (HBCU) students to intern for the Yale University Office of Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) this summer meant a lot to Nile Bennett, 20, a junior at Miles College in Fairfield, Alabama. “At first it didn’t register in my head that I was making history. Then, when I kept seeing social media outlets post about me and my school promote me, it hit me that I did something impactful,” Bennett told The Birmingham Times. The Yale program is designed to “empower and inspire the next generation of talent by offering hands-on experience and exposure to a diverse range of viable professions …”, according to the EHS website. Bennett, who was an Environmental Affairs Intern, was one of 10 EHS 2024 Summer Interns and one of two first-ever HBCU students in the program. Brooke Jones, a senior biology major at Clark Atlanta University in Atlanta, Georgia, was a Biological Security Intern. “I did a lot of compliance work. I was basically an environmental compliance officer, which means I got to go to power plants, athletic facilities, or different facilities around Yale to...