Gabrielle Herin ’18 in her K summer internship at the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality.
[By McKenna Bramble ’16]
With a major in biology and a concentration in environmental studies, Kalamazoo College student Gabrielle Herin ’18 is interested in all of us – individuals and institutions alike – reducing our environmental impact. In order to learn more about the processes behind environmental laws and policies that can help with this, Gabrielle is completing an internship this summer with the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ).
Gabrielle has spent her summer collaborating with more than 20 other college interns and their supervisor, MDEQ Environmental Education Coordinator Tom Occhipinti, on seven projects, four of which she heads as project manager.
One project is publishing the first edition of the Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) “Friends Newsletter.” Gabrielle says working on the newsletter has not only provided her the opportunity to research the goals and projects of the MDNR, but has also allowed her to develop some practical and organizational skills.
“My work on the newsletter has made me see how my writing abilities have improved since being at K,” she says. “Tom even complimented my writing in the newsletter. I feel a lot more confident that in the future, if I were to be asked to write something like this, I could definitely complete it.”
Gabrielle is a rising junior at K who plans to study abroad in France in spring 2017.
She’s also looking at life after K. Because of her K internship and the exposure she’s had to the work of the MDEQ’s Water Resources Division and Environmental Education Division, she said she is interested in exploring both as possible career options.
“Interning here is prepping me for what I would do in a potential career,” she says.
McKenna Bramble ’16
McKenna Bramble ‘16 graduated from Kalamazoo College with a B.A. degree in psychology and currently works as the post-baccalaureate summer assistant in the College’s Center for Career and Professional Development. She enjoys writing and reading poetry, hanging out with friends and eating chocolate. In the fall she plans to apply to M.F.A. degree programs for poetry. This is one of a series of profiles she is writing about K students and their summer internships.
Kalamazoo College ranks 14th among small colleges and universities nationwide in terms of the number of graduates who volunteer to serve in the Peace Corps. Since the agency was created in 1961, 288 K graduates have served overseas. Currently, nine K alumni are serving worldwide. One of them is William Schlaack ’12, who has served in Mongolia as an education volunteer since 2014 (see interview below). William majored in German and religion. He participated in the Farms 2K student organization, worked for K’s library and studied abroad in Erlangen, Germany.
Two other Michigan school received recognition on the large school list. University of Michigan ranked sixth (48 volunteers) and Michigan State University ranks 22nd (33 volunteers).
Kalamazoo College is no stranger to the Peace Corps. In 2006, it ranked as the eighth top volunteer-producing school among small universities and colleges. One of the most moving stories about the Peace Corps experience is shared by alumnus David Easterbrook ’69. You can hear him tell it (“When You See Rose Kennedy in the Market“) on Story Zoo.
What are your main volunteer projects and secondary projects?
(William Schlaack) I teach at the Mongolian University of Science and Technology in Darkhan aimag (province). Most of my time is spent co-teaching, lesson and curriculum building and leading extracurricular activities such as English club, teacher’s club and hiking club.
For secondary projects, I’ve been working with local non-governmental organizations and schools on regional Special Olympics competitions. So far two regions have held their first ever events. One other project I have been working on is life skills classes at the regional prison, so far I’ve been able to give workshops on anger and stress management that have been highly rewarding.
Outside of planned projects I think one of the best aspects of Peace Corps is the daily cultural exchange that takes place between volunteers and host country nationals. These interactions go beyond projects and really build great friendships and foster understanding between cultures.
How did your alma mater help prepare you for international service, or lead you to Peace Corps?
(WS) Kalamazoo provides wonderful study abroad and service learning opportunities that really help shape a global perspective that’s oriented toward service on a local and global scale.
What/who inspired me to serve in the Peace Corps?
(WS) I became inspired to serve in the Peace Corps as a result of volunteering with Books to Prisoners (a program that provides free books to Illinois inmates and also helps operate two jail libraries in the Urbana-Champaign area) and Project READ (an adult ESL program run out of Parkland Community College in Champaign, Illinois). I wanted to take some time off after earning my master’s degree to participate in some sort of national service that would combine international experience and allow me to leave a positive impact on a new community.
What are your career aspirations?
(WS) After Peace Corps I plan on working in a library, but also continuing my volunteer work in whatever local community I wind up in. Peace Corps has strengthened my project management skills and given me unique problem solving experiences that I hope to bring to my future workplace and community.
What’s been your favorite part of service?
My favorite part of service has been serving and growing in a community so rich with tradition and culture which has given me the opportunity to experience so many amazing encounters and find common interests and passions. Day-to-day life is often so surprising and hardly a day goes by that I don’t learn more about myself and my community.
Senior tennis player Katie Clark ’16 would be lying if she said she wasn’t nervous or scared when she decided to jump ship from Fairfax, Va., after high school and attend Kalamazoo College.
But before she left, a close family friend gave her peace of mind and a thought that’s stuck with her to this day.
“This part of your life isn’t dying, your circle is just getting bigger,” the friend told her.
Clark’s circle has expanded exponentially since stepping on campus.
“Honestly, I didn’t know I was going to be happy here until I showed up the first day,” Clark said. “It was a little different that someone from the East Coast would go to this little funky school in Michigan called Kalamazoo. But I remember pulling up to campus and thinking ‘Oh, it’s actually so beautiful here and everyone seems really nice and maybe I’ll like it.’
“Turns out, I’ve always enjoyed it.”
Leading on and off the court
As an athlete, Clark’s circle grew quickly as she became immersed in the women’s tennis family, but she was also introduced to another area on campus because of her involvement with tennis.
“Two or three years ago my coach recognized that women’s tennis had never really played that significant of a role on the Athletic Leadership Council, so he recommended I start attending,” Clark said. “It was a really good fit because the goals and work that ALC does very much align with my personal reasons for wanting to be a student-athlete.”
Clark, ALC’s active secretary, said her time with ALC helped her establish her identity beyond “student” or “athlete.” The organization allows her to simply be a part of the Kalamazoo College community.
“ALC engages student athletes with community work such as working with Special Olympics, but it also creates and hosts events for the entire campus.”
As a senior member of ALC and the tennis team, Clark is excited to be able to help shape the culture of the campus and her team.
From the court to Congress
A history major and a political science minor, Clark secured an internship with Senior United States Senator Charles Schumer in the summer of 2014 on Capitol Hill.
Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Katie Clark
When she arrived in Washington D.C. she learned her work would be primarily left up to her to figure out.
“Instead of the internship being very structured, it really was what you made out of it,” she said. “That’s one of the more valuable things I took away from my experience.
“Throughout my education, ever since kindergarten, people just give you things to do all the time and that’s a very easy thing to get accustomed to. On the other hand, working to find work for myself was new to me.”
Her assigned tasks included fielding calls from constituents, answering questions about policy in a cordial manner, organizing the mail and also giving tours of the Capitol Building. Her most valuable experience came from the work she assigned herself.
“I would find senatorial briefings on my own and would go talk to the responsible staffer to ask if they wanted me to write a memo and do research on the subject.
“A lot of times the staffer wouldn’t actually need the memo, but the interaction was about establishing the connection and having them realize that you want to be there. When they actually did need help with something significant they knew that I was well versed in that subject.”
She enjoyed the experience, and the feeling was mutual–Clark returned to the same position the following summer.
Expanding globally
Katie Clark in Thailand
Thailand is a place many people never see in their lifetime, but Clark’s circle stretched across the globe when she decided to experience the country and culture during the fall and winter terms of her junior year.
Clark didn’t want to just be a student in an unfamiliar environment; she wanted to immerse herself within a community and learn from people with vastly different understandings of life.
“My program was predominantly experiential-based learning, so other than the first six weeks we were in the field the entire time,” she said. “We spent most of our time in host villages living and learning from different members of the community.”
The days’ events and tasks ranged from meeting with government officials and local business men and women, to helping families clean their roofs and taking children to school. The topics of discussion ranged from overfishing to gender and religion.
“I wanted to be enrolled in a study abroad program that would give me something I wouldn’t be able to get on my own,” Clark said. Turns out that “something” was a deep connection to “communities and very rural areas in the mountains in northern Thailand.”
Growing beyond graduation
Using the experiences she’s had and the connections she’s made during her three and half years at K, Clark hopes to continue lengthening the radius of her circle as she begins to prepare for life after Kalamazoo.
“I have so many different areas of support here at K. School is something that I really value and enjoy. For my professors to be able to push me to be the best student I can be is special.
“Instead of just telling me ‘good work’ sometimes my professors will tell me ‘you can do better than this.’”
With her senior tennis season surely at the front of her mind and set to get underway in less than a month, her goal after graduation is to join the Peace Corps.
It’s safe to say–and Clark has no doubt–that wherever her path leads her next, she’ll be well-prepared.
(Text and photos by Kurt Miller, assistant sports information director)
The Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership (ACSJL) at Kalamazoo College has named four Southwest Michigan social justice activists to its inaugural ACSJL Regional Fellowship Program. The four Regional Fellows – Lolita Moss, Fernando Ospina, Jacob Pinney-Johnson, and Janai Travis – will serve in their fellowships through June 2016. They will receive funding, training, and mentoring through the ACSJL.
According to ACSJL Executive Director Mia Henry, the Regional Fellowship Program aims to build the leadership capacity of emerging and veteran social justice leaders that work and reside within the nine-county Southwest Michigan region.
“The fellowships are designed to support participants in clarifying their core values, increase their effectiveness and bring a stronger social justice focus to their work,” said Henry. “We hope the program also helps to strengthen the existing network of social justice leaders in the region.”
The new ACSJL Fellows were selected via a competitive application process. All work with nonprofit organizations on projects addressing issues such as black infant mortality, media literacy in marginalized communities, use of performance art to effect social change, and leadership development and community organizing among young people.
“I was ecstatic when I found out my project had been selected for the Regional Fellowship,” said Lolita Moss. “I have been searching for a way to lend my interest and expertise to the current fight for social justice. I’m very grateful and feel very fortunate that we have the Arcus Center right here in Kalamazoo.”
Fellows will be expected to implement or further develop a project in their local organization and community. They will also attend leadership retreats with other fellows and leadership training and coaching sessions with the ACSJL or a partner organization. They may also engage with Kalamazoo College students in a class, with a student organization, and through the College’s Center for Career and Professional Development.
Brief bios and project descriptions for each ACSJL Regional Fellow follow. Applications for the 2016-2017 Regional Fellowship will be available in May 2016. For more details, contact: Mia Henry, mhenry@kzoo.edu or 269-337-7398.
The Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership was launched in 2009 with support from the Arcus Foundation (www.arcusfoundation.org), including a $23 million endowment grant in January 2012. The ACSJL’s mission is to develop new leaders and sustain existing leaders in the field of human rights and social justice, which in turn, supports Kalamazoo College’s mission to prepare its graduates to better understand, live successfully within, and provide enlightened leadership to a richly diverse and increasingly complex world.
Lolita Moss, 2015-16 ACSJL Regional Fellow
Lolita Moss was born and raised in Kalamazoo, and received her B.A. degree from University of Michigan. Her professional background includes youth development work and developmental psychology research. She is a fierce advocate for media literacy and inclusive media representations.
Lolita’s project features the development of a curriculum that teaches critical media literacy to youth ages 12-18. The curriculum will be based on critical race and culture theory, which centers and affirms marginalized identities, specifically: people of color, women, trans, queer, disabled, and low-income communities. After the curriculum is developed, she will seek community partners for whom she can deliver the curriculum during summer 2016. Participants will gain an understanding of the media’s ability to impact one’s thoughts and behaviors. The primary goal of this project is to educate and empower youth from marginalized communities.
Fernando Ospina, 2015-16 ACSJL Regional Fellow
Fernando Ospina is an anti-racism organizer and trainer with Eliminating Racism and Claiming/Celebrating Equality (ERACCE). His professional training is in Conflict Resolution and Counseling Psychology. Fernando’s previous work has focused on violence prevention with court-mandated youth and adults as well as in research on courageous altruism.
Fernando’s project will focus on assisting the Kalamazoo Infant Mortality Community Action Initiative with designing and implementing strategies and activities to ensure the reduction of black infant mortality in Kalamazoo. In Kalamazoo, black infants are 4.5 times more likely to die than white infants. This fact is a direct consequence of systemic racism. In order to reduce this disparity, it is vital that those affected, and throughout the healthcare system in Kalamazoo, are knowledgeable of at least two things: 1) how racism contributes to disparities and 2) how to engage in systemic interventions to reduce disparities. Fernando’s organizing goals will be to help the initiative: 1) maintain focus on and increase awareness of how racism contributes to disparities; 2) approach the problem with a systemic lens and implement systemic responses; and 3) organize community and institutional support to address racial disparities like infant mortality through systemic, race conscious interventions.
Jacob Pinney-Johnson, 2015-16 ACSJL Regional Fellow
Jacob Pinney-Johnson is a fourth generation Kalamazoo resident with a lineage of family members who have contributed to the uplifting of African Americans in Southwest Michigan. He is a recipient of the Kalamazoo Promise and holds a B.A. degree in social work with a minor in Holistic Health from Western Michigan University. With a focus on racial equity, social justice, health and wellness, and youth development, Jacob has experience organizing within institutions and on a grass-roots level. Jacob currently sits on the Board of Directors for Educating for Freedom in Schools and the Kalamazoo Farmers Market Advisory Board. He is also a member of the ERACCE Regional Organizing Team. Along with serving as the Assistant to the Director at SHARE (Society for History and Racial Equity), Jacob also works part-time as a coordinator for the Kalamazoo Farmers Market.
Jacob’s project, the Institute for New Leadership (INL or project X), is a leadership development and community organizing program for the rising generation in Kalamazoo. The program will work with a multicultural group of 10-15 young people, and will focus on building awareness about systems of oppression as well as organizing for justice and social change. The program will be based around studying resistance, social change, and re-imagining communities, and will culminate in a community-based event, a People’s Movement Assembly. INL is based on a vision of leadership that is inclusive and non-oppressive of any gender, ethnicity, class, education level, or identity.
Janai Travis, 2015-16 ACSJL Regional Fellow
Janai Travis has been engaged in the performing arts since the young age of eight years old and decided early on to make a career out of her passion. Thanks to the Kalamazoo Promise, Janai was the first generation to graduate from college earning a B.A. degree in theater performance from Western Michigan University. She finds her purpose rooted in serving youth in the community through arts, culture, and artistry. For the past five years, Janai has been instrumental in the Freedom Schools movement. She currently holds the position of coordinating program director with Educating for Freedom in Schools. Janai is also one of the co-founders of the Black Arts and Cultural Center’s Face Off Theater Company.
Janai’s project, Activism and Artistry for Youth Initiative, explores the impact artistry can have in society as it relates to activism and demonstration. Youth will have the opportunity to express themselves while learning the artistic and rigorous technique of movement work. This Initiative is designed to merge service learning and authentic performance art in a way that is transformative. The objective is to create a piece that youth of color can use as a tool to combat injustices in our society. This project has the potential to set a new style of demonstration that will provoke substantial change.
Olivia Cares ’15 is a K summer intern in the Kalamazoo law office of Mike Ortega ’78.
Every summer, Kalamazoo College students fan out across the globe for summer internships. They gain workplace experience, acquire relevant skills and competencies, and test the academic theories they’ve studied in campus classrooms. The educational value of summer internships is increasingly recognized by employers, many of whom set greater store in a candidate’s internship experience than GPA or major.
K student interns also see the educational value of their summer experiences. We know this because we require students to submit written reflections to K’s Center for Career and Professional Development (CCPD) on their summer Field Experience Program.
Here are some insights shared by this summer’s crop of interns:
“It is incredibly gratifying to realize how far I’ve come in such a short time. While it was hard to notice while the internship was happening, I often felt like I was constantly lost. I can now look at what I was fumbling around with the first week and laugh about it, because now it seems so trivial and easy. And the great thing about this knowledge is that it can be immediately applicable to any other job within industry.”
– Michael Lindley ’16, product development analyst intern at NextGxDx, Franklin, Tennessee; supervised by Gillian Hooker ’00, Director of Clinical Development in Bioinformatics)
“[In] my internship, whenever I hit a roadblock I was able to clearly analyze the situation and develop a solution. This is one of the most useful skills I think I’ve acquired and honed at Kalamazoo College.”
– Minhkhang Truong ’16, teaching intern at the Olympia Schools, Hanoi, Vietnam; supervised by Christopher McDonald ’89, Head of Schools.
“I can take on almost any tasked assigned. Yes, sometimes I may have to ask extra questions to gain all of the background information necessary to fully complete a project, but the reality is that my K education has taught me how to ask those questions in a way that provides the needed answers. K has taught me how to ask important questions that leads to relevant answers, a skill that is beyond useful when I am being assigned such a variety of projects.”
– Amanda Johnson ’17, sales and marketing associate at Youngsoft, Inc., Wixom, Mich.; supervised by Amy Courter ’83, Senior VP of Sales and Marketing.
“[T]he law is a living thing that is constantly revised and changed. This makes research, clear understanding, and communication the most valuable tools in the trade.”
– Olivia Cares ’16, legal intern at Lewis, Reed & Allen, Kalamazoo; supervised by Michael Ortega ’78, attorney and shareholder.
The above experiences are among many that are funded each year through the CCPD’s Field Experience Program. Endowed funds provide $3,000 stipends to help defray the costs of unpaid summer internships. The CCPD recognizes with gratitude all the donors who have made these summer internship stipends possible, as well as all of the alumni who serve as internship supervisors for current K students.
Trace Redmond and Eeva Sharp at Roak Brewing Company
Half a dozen years ago first-year student Eeva Sharp ’13 was baking banana bread in the Trowbridge Hall kitchen when classmate (though, at the time, complete stranger) Trace Redmond ’13 walked in.
“Oh, you’re doing it wrong,” he said. Lucky for him there were beginnings of a chemistry other than that happening in the bread. Eeva and Trace have been together since freshman year, and currently you can find them both working (still “in the kitchen” so to speak) at the recently opened Roak Brewing Company in Royal Oak, Michigan.
The morphing of their love of bread to beer started long before Roak, even before Trowbridge. Eeva did a gap year prior to K during which she lived in Belgium. “Beer is a big part of the Belgian cultural identity. It’s a gastronomic experience that I really came to appreciate.” Trace was already home brewing as a student. Eeva soon joined him in that enterprise.
Eeva and Trace during homebrewing student days
After graduation they moved to Grand Rapids. Trace worked at Founders Brewery; Eeva worked in communications and development for The West Michigan Center for Arts and Technology. This past spring Trace got an offer he couldn’t pass up: director of quality control and partner brewer at Roak. By the way, his new employer queried, did he know anyone who could tackle the new venture’s social media and marketing functions. Eeva interviewed a few weeks later. Her new title: director of marketing at Roak.
Both are excited to be part of a new microbrewery. Eeva enjoys the creativity of the craft beer industry and, the sense of shared community in Royal Oak. Trace, with head brewer Brandon MacClaren, loves making beers that are clean, crisp and fresh with the best ingredients and a custom brewing system that was built around the process that he and Brandon have developed to craft their brews.
Roak makes six core beers (Powerboat, Around the Clock, Means Street, Live Wire, Devil Dog and Kasmir) and just released their first seasonal (Melonfest). You can visit the 30-barrel custom brewhouse and taproom (330 E. Lincoln Street) from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. (Monday through Wednesday), 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. (Thursday through Saturday), and noon to 10 p.m. on Sunday. But be sure to get there early! Seats fill and lines form quickly in the recently opened taproom. Text by Mallory Zink ’15; Photos by Chandler Smith ’13 and Mallory Zink
A new meta-analysis shows that the Kalamazoo College liberal arts learning experience develops students who are better able than most of their peers to secure the post-graduation outcomes they seek.
Last week at its national conference, the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) released the first-ever national compilation of first-destination surveys. Across categories such as instructional profile, public vs. private, location type, region, and enrollment numbers, Kalamazoo College graduates did comparatively well securing their next steps.
NACE defines a first destination “Career Outcome” as employment, continuing education, or working in a volunteer or service program. The national average of Career Outcomes among liberal arts undergraduate institutions was 85.1 percent of the total class. Comparatively, 87 percent of Kalamazoo College’s Class of 2014 met Career Outcomes. K’s first-destination survey is administered by the College’s Center for Career and Professional Development (CCPD).
And fewer members of Kalamazoo College’s class of 2014 were still seeking employment six months after graduating. K’s rate of 6.6 percent of such students was lower than both the national rates of 7.7 percent for private institutions and 9.7 percent for liberal arts institutions.
By December 2014, 91 percent of K’s 2014 graduates who sought employment had secured jobs (up from 85 percent in 2013). Twenty-three percent were already in graduate school (up from 19 percent in 2013).
Check out the Kalamazoo College Class of 2014 First Destination Survey Results (http://bit.ly/K2014FDSSummary). And feel free to review specific first destination information by major (http://bit.ly/KFDSByMajor) from class years 2010-2014.
The College is currently conducting the First Destination Survey for the Class of 2015 and will publish results in January 2016. CCPD is open year-round and its free services for alumni never expire.
Text by Rachel Wood, Kalamazoo College Center for Career and Professional Development
Taylor Brown ’15 (left) with Doug Phillips, director of client relations at AVB
Recent Kalamazoo College graduates sometimes assume there are no opportunities in Kalamazoo for job growth, and so they move to bigger cities. This perception is often a misconception, and to help set the record straight, Joan Hawxhurst, director of the Center for Career and Professional Development, highlights an exclusive local internship opportunity.
“The Monroe-Brown Internships serve as a pipeline for thriving local businesses to access local student talent,” she said.
The program began in 2005 and is administered by the economic development organization Southwest Michigan First. Its aims are two-fold: to help companies find talented young students and to help young people pursue meaningful careers. “It’s an investment that goes both ways,” said Hawxhurst.
This year 32 students from K applied for Monroe-Brown Internships and four were selected, a robust representation for K. They are: Taylor Brown ’15 with AVB, Drew Hopper ’15 at Eaton Corporation, William Cagney ’15 at Imperial Beverage, and Stephen Oliphant ’15 at Schupan & Sons, Inc.
Hopper is a Global Product Strategy Intern at Eaton. He recently returned from studying abroad at the London School of Economics, and he finds his internship an excellent proving ground to apply and develop skills in marketing, engineering, and program management.
“Eaton stresses employee development, and everyone is open to providing outlets for personal improvement, particularly with the interns.” He has participated in presentations, meetings, research projects, and analysis-based discussions.
Brown works for Portage-based construction firm AVB. Last year she worked behind-the-scenes with the construction management company, Skanska. She finds the Monroe-Brown internship with AVB “much more hands-on,” she says. “A great deal of my work is on display, because I am responsible for writing, designing, and distributing newsletters and press-releases via print and e-mail.”
She created a slideshow presentation that plays in AVB’s foyer. And she frequently meets with the company’s Chief Operating Officer and other top executives. Like Hopper, she said she has developed confidence in presenting herself in the business world.
There are many opportunities for professional growth in Kalamazoo; just ask K’s Monroe-Brown interns.
Brielle Bethke ’16 did an independent internship at the University of Louisville Center for Neurological Surgery. There she assisted with physical therapy, conducted data analysis, shadowed physicians and researchers, and met people with a unique outlook on life. Her work is connected to a recent CNN Health Report story about a study of the applications of electrical stimulation in spinal cord injury. Two people with whom Brielle worked are featured in the story. She worked with Dustin, a patient in the study who, at age 18, suffered a spinal cord injury in a car accident that left him paralyzed from the waist down. Dr. Susan Harkema, the head of neurological surgery at the Frazier Rehabilitation Institute, was the supervisor of Brielle’s internship. Brielle is majoring in biology and earning a minor in Spanish. She is a member of the Health Guild and will study abroad in Caceres, Spain, during her junior year.
Bret Linvill ’15 (center) during his summer internship, flanked by alumni supervisor Jerry Mechtenberg-Berrigan ’97 (right) and Jerry’s son, Amos. Linvill’s was a Community Building Internship organized jointly with the College’s Center for Civic Engagement.
Autumn’s active in the Center for Career and Professional Development (CCPD). The Recruiting Expo and the Professional Development Institute are hard-to-miss fall events. And you often find CCPD staff speaking in upper-level classes and first-year seminars. Every day CCPD staff members help students with career counseling, with assessment tools, and with application materials. And fall’s the time CCPD reaches out to alumni and parents to invite their partnership in providing summer career development opportunities for students.
Alumni and parents, let us know if you will host a summer student, either through the Discovery Externship Program or as a K Intern in the Field Experience Program.
Externships: Short Homestay and Job Shadow
Past externship hosts, who have housed students and hosted them in their workplace for up to four weeks in the summer, become enthusiastic advocates for the program.
“John and Tyler were wonderful externs! Not only did we enjoy them tremendously, but we received such positive feedback from our colleagues who graciously spent time with them. The days were long and hectic, but our dinners were relaxed and full of conversations about their days, their impressions, the state of medicine, and more.” – Sherri Seifert ’83
“It is always great to connect with a current K student and to spend time sharing my home and work life. As I have become more professionalized in my career, I find I can more comfortably provide advice and insight into working in the arts.” – Bethany Whitehead ’98
“Discovery Externship is a special program that I highly endorse. I wish all college students could have such an experience. The students come well prepared and ready to try out new things. And we seem to benefit just as much as they do.” – Anne Dayanandan ’75
Other comments:
“I found it a lot of fun. I enjoyed showing our student what practicing medicine is like. It helped me reflect on what I was like at 19 trying to make similar career decisions.”
“Hosting a K student was a lovely experience. It was fun to get to share my experiences at and beyond K with her. When I was at K, wondering what I might do next, I had no idea what graduate school was all about. I enjoyed being able to offer a K student a glimpse of that next step and to provide some guidance about how to get there.”
“I enjoyed the opportunity to talk with the extern about my own scattered career path. I reassure students that career paths do not need to be defined at graduation and do not need to be linear. I wish I had someone to talk to about such concerns when I was a student.”
“It’s great to see the level of intellectual curiosity that I remember as a hallmark of my time at K is still alive and well in the current student body. My extern made me feel as if the DNA of the college was still much the same–the students are there because they are truly engaged and committed to learning. That was nice to see.”
Internships: Summer Workplace Immersion
Externship host Bridget Blough ’08 (right) shares a day at the beach with her two summer externs.
Alumni and parents who select and supervise student interns for at least six weeks through the Field Experience Program are similarly effusive. They cite many benefits of involvement, including:
– Engagement with talented, idealistic, dedicated students;
– Enhancement of the projects to which interns are assigned;
– The real and valuable work undertaken by the students;
– The learning that goes both ways;
– The opportunity to see future leaders learn and grow by doing.
The program’s structure–a sliding-scale stipend, a learning contract, regular contact with the CCPD through reflective assignments, final evaluations, and official transcript notation–ensures that learning goals and mutual expectations are established and met.
The CCPD is currently fielding inquiries and confirming participation for both extern and intern hosts for summer 2014. Alumni and parents may indicate their interest in either program online, and a CCPD staff member will respond by mid-November. As fall turns to winter, our students will head off for winter break, and the CCPD’s summer line-up will be complete.
