New Canaan High School senior Matthew Angilletta felt nervous coming into his internship with Trillium Architects—a Ridgefield-based boutique firm specializing in “Passive House”, “Net Zero,” and off-the-grid design of new homes, additions and renovations. Part of the popular NCHS Senior Internship Program or “SIP,” Angilletta is planning to study mechanical engineering at Northeastern University in the fall, with his first semester abroad in Dublin.
“It’s my first time in a work environment, but I’ve found that everybody in the office is super warm and inviting and it’s been very interesting to tag along to job sites and work on models,” he told NewCanaanite.com on a recent afternoon, about two weeks into the internship with Trillium. “It’s been a lot of fun so far.”
Angilletta is one of 362 seniors placed across 230 internship sites under the SIP program this year—that’s 97% of all NCHS seniors, according to the program’s coordinator, Kelly DelMazio.
Offering real-world work experience, connections and a resume-builder, the program is “off to a strong start” this year, DelMazio said. “After just a couple of weeks, it’s been incredible to see students fully immersed in real-world experiences,” she said in an email. “Whether they’re conducting research, teaching in the classroom, working behind the scenes in production, shadowing a doctor, or exploring their passions in marketing, finance, or design.”
Trillium’s founder and CEO, architect Elizabeth DiSalvo—winner of AIA Connecticut’s prestigious 2025 Women in Architecture Award—has been in business for 20 years, and her company received a citation recently from the state General Assembly for being “a leader in moving the green building industry forward in its commitment to exceeding energy standards, embracing innovative technologies, and raising awareness of how building green can help combat climate change.”
DiSalvo, who has designed smart and sustainable houses in New Canaan, said that her two NCHS senior interns this year—Angilletta and West Point-bound Daniel Yoo— “have a fantastic attitude.”
“They’re really super interested and hard-working and so far they have been going to job sites and attending in-office meetings with clients and they’re also building a model—old-school, physically—which we thought would be fun.”
Yoo, who will study civil engineering at the U.S. Military Academy, said the internship with Trillium has been “more than what I expected.”
“There’s a hands-on element to it which is something that I really gravitate toward,” he said.
