PSY Internship Spotlight with Katelyn Kraemer

August 11, 2025 - Shelly DeJong

Meet Katelyn Kraemer, a 3rd year student triple majoring in Psychology, Theatre, and Arts and Humanities through the Residential College in the Arts and Humanities.  This summer, Katelyn is interning at All the Worlds a Stage, whose mission is to teach life skills to youth through theatre arts education programming. Continue reading to learn more about how Katelyn’s MSU education and background has prepared her for this internship, how she’s helping kids gain confidence and mental health skills through theater, how key words have helped her find opportunities, and more!  

 

What kind of things are you doing at this internship? 

This internship has me teaching a wide range of programming that allows me to flex many skills as well as grow in several areas related to my passions. Throughout the summer we have paired with Macomb Intermediate School District (MISD) to help turn a STEM camp into a STEAM camp. With this program I am going into classrooms with 2nd through 5th grade students and working with them on using their voice, focus skills, controlling their body, being in front of people, communication skills, and more mini lessons captured within several games and activities.  

I am also teaching a drama camp through Macomb Center for the performing arts with 4th through 5th graders. In this camp I am helping students get out of their shell, make friends, learn about theatre, gain confidence, feel comfortable performing in front of a large group, increase focus, and grow overall.  During the second half of the summer, I get to help put together two musicals each in two weeks. One with 7th through 12th graders and one with 4th through 8th graders. This camp consists of students who have a passion for theatre already but are challenged by the quick timeline of the production. While I get to flex my theatre background, my psychology knowledge comes into play more than it seems. I get to work one on one with kids to navigate fears, challenges, confidence, and even heavy emotions throughout the process.   

 

What do you like most about your internship?  

My favorite thing about my internship is how it combines my passion and majors together. At first glance it seems more theater focused, but there are many community engagement aspects that allow me to pull knowledge from my arts and humanities like working with a non-profit, the partnership program with MISD, and working with different groups of kids and ages throughout the summer. Lastly, it allows me to jump into all things psychology and mental health behind the scenes as I teach the kids life skills, navigate heavy emotions daily, work with them on their confidence, find different ways to help the kids with fears or performance anxiety, help them tap into another characters brain, push them to feel comfortable in their body (and with who they are), work with a diverse group of kids, enforce empathy inside of my classroom and programs, and many more aspects.  

I also have grown up doing theatre with All the Worlds a Stage, so now I get the honor and opportunity to be on the other side which has allowed me to learn even more as I know what it's like to be in the kids' shoes.  

 

How did your MSU education prepare you for this internship? 

As I said above, all my majors have a close tie to what I am doing with my internship this summer, which has prepared me more than anything for this opportunity. However, this past year I took both child psychology and social psychology at MSU. I have pulled the most knowledge from these two classes so far within my internship role. Child psychology has helped me understand where developmentally and socially things may be different for each age group I work with, which allows me to take different approaches for each camp I work on. In addition, it helped me gain further understanding to the best ways I can help each kid grow depending on their level, comfort, ability, or any challenges they may face on the way. In addition to this, I use social psychology to navigate a lot of day-to-day things, more than the average person might realize. My social psychology class comes into play when I get to watch how the kids interact with each other, where they are comfortable, where problems may arise, and also ensuring equity, fairness, inclusion, and comfort within how I lead and teach my groups of students.  

 

What has surprised you the most about your internship so far? 

I knew going into this internship that I would have so much fun, but I didn't realize how much I would gain and grow throughout the internship. I also didn’t realize how much my past experiences and education have prepared me for this internship. I truly can't wait for the rest of the summer!  

 

Do you have advice for others looking for an internship? 

If you are looking for an internship, make sure that you find something that aligns with your passions. It is important to find opportunities, but it's just as important to make sure you can fully enjoy those opportunities and utilize them to grow and not just work. One thing that I was taught that has helped is to use key words for opportunities you are interested in when searching so you can find more specific programs. For me I might use words like mental health, youth, performing arts, and community development/service.  

 

What are your hopes for the future? 

Ultimately, I hope to go to grad school to continue my psychology education with an end goal of working in the mental health field. My dream job would definitely be something that allows me to embrace all my passions, preferably working in mental health with children either utilizing the arts or doing something fun with the arts and community on the side. My overall goal and hope though, is to make an impact on others in any positive way possible.