The most significant project of my internship at Puberry was building a new feature for onboarding schools. Under COPPA, students under thirteen cannot share personal information on digital platforms without consent from a parent, guardian, or educational institution. Because we had not established a school‑based consent flow, this project became a priority. The new onboarding flow allows educational institutions to grant digital consent for students’ personal information and enables administrators to manage paid licenses. This feature supports Puberry’s mission to provide a safe, reliable educational platform by ensuring compliance and giving schools tools to manage their use of the platform.

In this project I applied my knowledge of web services, computer networks, and database systems to build a reliable registration system. Understanding HTTP requests helped me make sense of API endpoints. Using PostgreSQL, I combined entities to search for data efficiently. While I had applied these concepts in class projects, using them in a production environment gave me a deeper appreciation for their importance.

Challenges included working with a new programming language, learning web‑development tools like Figma, Postman, and SendGrid, and understanding a large codebase. None of these were under my control at the start of the internship, so I approached each as part of the learning process. The greatest challenge was adjusting to a professional software‑engineering team. As an only child I have often preferred working alone. In a fast‑paced startup, where features deploy every two weeks, it is essential to ask for help. I learned to ask questions early instead of spending hours on a bug.

Through this internship I grew as an engineer and team member. I gained hands‑on experience with full‑stack development, including secure account creation, automatic email features, API testing, and software quality assurance. Applying academic knowledge to practical tasks challenged me in ways college courses cannot, and I discovered a greater passion for computer science. The most meaningful takeaway was contributing to an amazing team. I learned that communication is crucial, no one knows everything, and collaborative support enables success. I left with greater confidence and eagerness to continue learning full‑stack development.