New Year Up intern

We are thrilled to introduce our new Year Up intern, Josh Johnston. Year Up is a job training program, tuition free, that helps students with skills-based training and internships. The Department of Medicine has been sponsoring interns with Year Up since 2022.

Josh was born and raised in rural Colville, Washington, and currently lives in Seattle with his dog, Baylee. He earned his GED from Spokane Community College at age 16 and is currently studying for his Professional Scrum Master certification.

After taking a break from college during COVID, he worked at Rover.com as a Trust and Safety Investigator and later at Steve Madden as a production coordinator. He has also served as a licensed Peer Support Specialist certified through the Washington State Department of Health.

Feeling motivated to grow his career, but not quite ready for full-time university, Josh enrolled in Year Up United's business operations and project management track.

“What I enjoy most about Year Up is the hands-on learning environment, which lets me immediately apply concepts to real-world scenarios,” he said.

Josh is joining the Department of Medicine as a project management intern supporting the Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB). He is currently focusing on coordinating the logistics, agenda design, and project tracking for the upcoming DOM DEIB Annual Retreat on September 24th.

Through his internship with the DOM, Josh hopes to refine his skills in coordinating complex, cross-functional projects - particularly those centered around benchmarking and DEIB.

“So far, I’ve really enjoyed the welcoming, collaborative atmosphere at UW DOM, as well as the chance to contribute to initiatives that have a real, meaningful impact on our community.”

He hopes to bring his interest in tech-driven project management, process automation, and systems integration to the department to help streamline workflows and drive efficient project delivery. In particular, he enjoys building workflows in Trello, Jira, and Microsoft Teams, and he’s recently been exploring AI development through Microsoft Copilot Studio and web benchmarking tools.

Josh has a major green thumb and a passion for rare PNW plants, “I’m currently raising a carnivorous Round-leaf Sundew native to the WA State!” He also enjoys biking, testing out skincare routines, and unwinding with sci-fi shows like The Peripheral, The Night Agent, or Devs.

One of Josh’s most meaningful experiences, however, has been helping return an important piece of history to its rightful home. A few years ago, he had the unique opportunity to research and work directly with the Tlingit tribe of Alaska to return a historical that had been found by his grandfather years earlier. Only a few of these artifacts are known to exist.

For Josh, it was deeply important that the artifact be returned directly to the tribe so that their heritage could be restored to the community rather than ultimately ending up on display in a museum.

Year Up is committed to ensuring equitable access to economic opportunity, education, and justice for all young adults—no matter their background, income, or zip code.

Employers face a growing need for talent while millions are left disconnected from the economic mainstream. These inequities only further perpetuate the Opportunity Divide that exists in our country—a divide that Year Up is determined and positioned to close.

Year Up's mission is to close the Opportunity Divide by ensuring that young adults gain the skills, experiences, and support that will empower them to reach their potential through careers and higher education.