Bonner High-Impact Initiative > Internships


 

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Internships:

 

Below are some additional resources for thinking about how to connect civic and community engagement (focusing especially with non-profits, schools, and government agencies) and internships.

 

Internships are one of the most significant high-impact practices.  They are often valued by students as meaningful learning and preparation for post-graduate work, especially in that they help students gain valuable experience and build relationships and networks.  Internship experiences are also highly valued by employers.

 

Here is a presentation (made at the January 2015 Association of American Colleges and Universities annual meeting) that explores the features of high-impact practices, drawing from research by Jillian Kinzie (Indiana University), who also works on the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE).  Then, Ariane Hoy, representing the Bonner Foundation and Greg Weight, from the Washington Internship Institute, describe more about how some campuses in the Bonner Network are working to connect internships with civic engagement.

 

This page on the wiki then provides additional information for use by campuses.

 

Developing Greater Impact with High-Impact Practices: Internships and Civic Engagement from Corella & Bertram Bonner Foundation

 

Here is the Capacity-Building Form which has been utilized by Bonner Programs with their community partners.

By having partners complete the form, additional community-based learning internships, which may be connected to coursework or shared across campus through other programs, can be developed.  Download here.

 

An example is The College of New Jersey.  Here, one staff/faculty member working with the center led up the process, with the help of other staff and student interns. Roughly 30 agencies completed the Capacity-Building Form.  As a result, internships connected with community engagement -- also sought by sustained community partners--were identified.  Yet, these internships can be connected to students' work across many majors and academic courses.  Hence, the outreach for identifying students to fill these internships can be broadened, connecting with otherwise unengaged students on campus while also fitting into their educational experiences. Staff and faculty can then play an advising role.

 

Here is the catalog of internship opportunities that The College of New Jersey has developed.  

They have been framed as Community-Based Academic Internships.

 

Community-Based Internships Spring 2015 Update Final.pdf

 

For each internship (approximately 57 developed through the process), there is a complete job description that includes:

 

• The title and info about the organization

• Time commitment

• Internship description

• Intern qualifications

• Expected benefits and outcomes for the intern

 

Here's an example: