April 30 marked 100 days since President Trump took office, and in that time, uncertainty surrounding visas, research grant funding and key employment sectors has affected job prospects for Middlebury seniors and recent graduates. Students looking to work in industries or government programs targeted by the Trump administration feel unnerved by funding cuts and sweeping executive orders that may affect their post-grad options.
Grace Mumford ’25 has interned with Terraset, a carbon dioxide removal non-profit this school year, where she hopes to continue working full-time upon graduating. After hearing rumors from her boss about an executive order potentially terminating the nonprofit status of climate-related organizations, she felt worried.
“It was really terrifying in that I just felt like I had nowhere to go, and I had put a lot of my eggs in this one basket, and having it be potentially stripped away was incredibly jarring,” she said.
Although Mumford feels more certain of her job offer with Terraset now that the rumors have temporarily rolled over, the experience of navigating the environmental job market during the Trump administration has reframed her outlook on the field.
“One of the things my boss texted me was, ‘No one is safe, and this needs to be talked about more.’ That struck me — that there really is no safe space in the environmental realm,” she added.
Although the Trump administration has affected seniors’ job searches, according to Ursula Olender, director of the Center for Careers and Internships (CCI), the number of students who have applied for internship funding is similar this year to last year.
The impacts of the Trump administration have also been felt by recent Middlebury graduates who already began to work their post-grad jobs. Ellie Hughes ’24.5 has served as an Americorps member with Greater Portland Council of Governments since graduating in February, but last week, the federal government terminated all Americorps positions nationwide.
“We’re actively working to apply public pressure to reinstate the funding and find ways to continue working in the interim, so lots of the details are still up in the air in terms of what exactly the termination notice means for us and on what timeline,” Hughes explained.
The Greater Portland Council of Governments has independently funded Hughes’s position through June, and she hopes the federal government might restore the funding in the meantime. Until then, Hughes anticipates having to restart her job search.
“I’ll have to launch a premature job search in what I’m sure will be a very hostile job market. I want to spend my time supporting and improving community well-being through public sector work, and our elected officials clearly don’t believe in that approach,” she explained.
Next to Americorps on the chopping block is the cancellation of federal jobs at agencies like the State Department, along with the dissolution of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). However, Franchesca Belisle ’25 plans on serving in the Peace Corps upon graduation and says her job working on maternal and child health initiatives in Togo has not been affected yet.
While the Peace Corps remains safe for now, Belisle said she was worried about potential cuts proposed by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to international aid and staffing.
“I do have some concerns about how broader U.S. policies might affect Peace Corps operations abroad, especially in ways that might affect my health work abroad — like access to supplies, training, or community partnerships. I’m hopeful things will stay stable, but it’s something I’m thinking about as I prepare,” Belisle said.
Other students reported feeling upset by the changes but not deterred from their larger mission of serving affected communities.
“It’s a tough pill to swallow as we attempt to launch careers in public sector climate work. It’s a path that has always required a certain degree of comfort navigating uncertainty and doom, but this moment in history feels like a new low,” Hughes said. “We’re all juggling a lot of anger and a lot of grief about what’s happening to us and around us more broadly.”
Tracy Himmel Isham, senior associate director of the CCI, advises students on fields including social impact, international development and the environment — some of the most vulnerable fields under the Trump administration. She said in an interview with The Campus that the number of jobs that have been lost is impossible to quantify, but the changes are undeniable.
As seniors struggle to find jobs in the fields that matter to them, one small bright side is that their common struggle may be bringing them together. Mumford mentioned that amongst her friends, many of whom have faced similar challenges, the experience has brought a sense of camaraderie.
“We're all in this together, and it's not going to be easy… supporting one another is just so critical during this time, and it has definitely brought us together in that we kind of all understand what we're going through,” Mumford said.
Himmel Isham agreed that community is more important than ever. She encouraged students affected by the turmoil to reach out to alumni who faced similar periods of uncertainty upon graduating, such as during the 2008 financial crisis or the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Many have gone through similar periods of economic uncertainty when they were graduating and can share valuable advice and perhaps even alternative pathways which might help current students understand that they can pursue their dream jobs but maybe not in the most direct pathway as originally imagined,” she wrote to The Campus.
In terms of advice for seniors, Himmel-Isham hopes that students will learn to embrace flexibility and intentionality in order to imagine new types of pivots they might be able to make in terms of sector, location or timeline.
“Times like these require flexibility to get where you might be heading… Developing a mindset that recognizes that everything you’ve worked towards here at Middlebury doesn’t have to be just one version of who you are,” she wrote.
Maggie Bryan '25 (she/her) is the Senior News Editor.
Maggie is a senior at Middlebury, majoring in Environmental Policy and French. She previously held roles as Senior Arts and Culture Editor, Arts and Culture Editor, and Staff. During her free time, she loves running, listening to live music, drinking coffee, and teaching spin classes. She is from Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
Rosella Graham '25 (she/her) is a News Editor.
Rosella is an International Politics & Economics major and Spanish minor from San Mateo, California. She spent her junior year in Madrid and outside of The Campus she enjoys co-hosting a radio show and playing lacrosse with friends.
