Julia Smith ’28 enjoyed solving puzzles as a child. Crosswords. Anagrams. Three-dimensional wooden puzzles with lots of intricate pieces.
As she learned about computer science and software engineering, Smith saw a correlation between activities of her youth and her academic pursuits.
“That’s pretty much all engineering is,” Smith says. “It’s figuring things out, it’s building puzzles and taking things apart.”
Smith spent the summer of 2025 doing what she loves for one of America’s largest tech companies, working as a software engineering intern at Amazon HQ2, the company’s east coast headquarters, in Arlington, Virginia.
The computer science major was part of the accounts and identity team for Amazon Web Services, the company’s cloud computing business. She was assigned a project, helping to build a program to analyze error trends in data. It involved programming work with real-world milestones and deliverables.
At the end of the 12-week internship, Smith gave a presentation to the entire accounts organization, which consists of multiple teams.
College internships are invaluable experiences and key components of Denison’s top-ranked career services model. Some students learn the work is not what they imagined, and it allows them to pivot in other directions before graduation. In Smith’s case, the Amazon experience has fueled her desire to continue on the same path.
“I’ve really liked it,” she says. “I get to work with other software engineers, attend meetings, and interact with Amazon managers and mentors.”
As a QuestBridge scholar, a national program providing scholarships to high-achieving students from low-income backgrounds, Smith had her choice of 55 participating universities. Denison was her top pick, and she believes her liberal arts education prepared her for a challenging summer internship.
Flannery Currin, an assistant professor of computer science at Denison, is not surprised Smith has thrived in the demanding Amazon environment. Currin describes her as an attentive student who can take lessons and concepts taught throughout a semester and stitch them together to produce innovative projects.
Smith possesses a “wonderful curiosity,” says global health assistant professor Andrea Lourie, who runs the Scholar-Leader Program for the Lisska Center for Intellectual Engagement. The pilot program is a community of students who have an identifiable interest in leadership, academic enrichment, and selective fellowship opportunities.
Lourie visited six students in the program that were working internships in the Washington, D.C., area. The professor says Smith’s curiosity reveals itself in the informed questions she asks. It’s a sentiment echoed by Currin.
“Julia’s questions are well thought out, and she usually gets to the answer by herself,” Currin says.
Being a quick study is an important attribute in a high-profile internship, especially for a first-year college student. Smith applied to the Amazon Future Engineering program while still in high school. She had the option of waiting to serve the paid internship until after her sophomore year but was confident in her abilities.
The Amazon Future Engineering program offers select students the opportunity for a second summer internship.
“Julia is very mature and poised for someone her age,” Lourie says. “She came into our Scholar-Leader Program knowing what she wanted her Denison experience to look like.”
Growing up in rural western Pennsylvania, Smith welcomed the chance to spend a summer in the nation’s bustling capital. She had her choice of working at Amazon campuses across the country.
She rode the subway to work every day. She explored the city in her free time with the goal of visiting every Smithsonian museum. She lived in the city, staying in a George Washington University residence hall on an Amazon housing stipend, and hung out with other company interns.
“I love being able to walk anywhere, or just hop on the Metro,” Smith says. “Living here and working at Amazon has been such a great learning experience.”
