6 May 2016, Arlington, VA – More than 100 Shepherd Interns will gather at Marymount University (Main Campus) in Arlington, Virginia, on Friday, 3 June to prepare for their eight-week internships across the U.S.
The two-day Frueauff Opening Conference for Shepherd Interns will, “provide interns with an approach to their internship that will maximize their education through the work they do as interns, their respectful collaboration with others, and their relationship with fellow interns from many different schools and backgrounds,” said to Harlan R. Beckley, SHECP executive director. “It will provide them with the knowledge to ask the important questions during their internship.”
Student interns represent 20 SHECP member colleges and universities. They will work full-time with residents of impoverished communities in nearly twenty cities or towns U.S., including Camden, N.J.; Atlanta, GA; Chester, PA; Cleveland, OH; and Klagetoh, AZ.
The internship experience provides students with a first-hand experience about the multiple dimensions of poverty in the United States by working for eight weeks alongside individuals seeking to improve their communities. Students work with agencies that fit their intellectual and career interests in order to develop their experience and skills for future civic involvement and employment.
Marcus Washington, Headmaster of Washington Jesuit Academy, and faculty and staff from SHECP member schools, as well as alumni of the internship program, will give presentations and facilitate discussions to guide students in their emotional and intellectual preparation for the internship experience.
Louwanda Evans, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Sociology, Millsaps College will lead a session on “Becoming a Participant Observer.” Her current research interests include racial and ethnic relations, work and occupations, and emotional labor. She teaches courses on social inequality, research methods & statistics, and criminology.
Dr. Louwanda Evans, Assistant Professor of Sociology, will speak about, “On Becoming a Participant-Observer.” How do those working as interns make observations that enable them to learn about poverty and remedies that expand opportunities? Her presentation will follow opening remarks by Beckley on maximizing the internship experience.
Marcus Washington, Headmaster, Washington Jesuit Academy and students. Mr. Washington will help interns prepare for their summer by leading them in a session on Professional Responsibility and Confidentiality, Boundaries, Emotional Resilience.” (Photo by Barbara L. Salisbury/For WJA)
Mr. Washington will speak with the interns about confidentiality, boundaries, emotional resilience, all of which are vital to professional development. Washington Jesuit Academy is a middle school whose mission is to provide a high quality and comprehensive education to boys from low-income communities, since 2002. Mr. Washington is no stranger to the conference host; he earned his MA from Marymount University.
Students will gather in 12 professional work area groups to discuss the writings of program alumni. The interns will undoubtedly confront similar issues to the ones raised in the essays. “The goal is for interns to be asking a variety of questions that inform their participant observations; what aspects of poverty and promising remedies should one expect to encounter,” write Beckley. “These discussions will help frame their experience, their internship reports, their poverty studies education; and possibly their career choices.”
Work areas include: Community and Business Development;Criminal Law; Education and Youth Development; Employment Services; Pubic Health and Health Care; and Individual and Family Services.
The students will gather in their geographic cohorts to develop strategies for building a supportive summer home environment, personal safety, and living on less than $14 per day for meals, commuting, and entertainment.
Click here for the current conference agenda.
Click here for DC area transportation options to campus and MU Shuttle Van information, and the MU Campus Map.
SHECP faculty and staff can registration is now closed.
Students will be residing on campus. SHECP faculty and staff are invited to reserve their own room at the Hilton Arlington, VA -$99 per night, plus tax; parking extra. 703-528-6000. Shuttle service by Marymount is provided from the hotel to the university. While the cut-off date for this rate is May 2nd, you may be able to secure this rate beyond the 2nd.
“Marymount University is excited to again host the SHECP opening conference,” said Brian M. Doyle, Ph.D., Professor of Theology and Director of Marymount’s Center for Ethical Concerns. “As a Catholic University we strive to combat poverty and marginalization. With our proximity to Washington, DC, we see real poverty and the hope and possibility of policy development to empower all in this nation.
A comprehensive Catholic university founded in 1950, Marymount serves approximately 3,700 students from more than 40 states and 60 countries. The close-knit academic community provides a culture of engagement that fosters intellectual curiosity, service to others and a global perspective.
The Shepherd internship is a competitive process with an application and interview process at each institution. All applicants are required to have previously studied poverty issues in the classroom. Once accepted, students work with their university contact and Shepherd Internship Program to match the intern with at a works-site where they gain valuable experience and contribute to the mission of the organization.
Peg Falls-Corbitt has been Associate Provost for Engaged Learning at Hendrix College since 2009 and Director of the College’s Miller Center for Vocation, Ethics, and Calling since 2002.
Faculty and Staff from SHECP Member Schools will serve as session facilitators during many conference breakout sessions. They will have the opportunity for two professional development workshops during the opening conference. Friday afternoon, Tiffany Nourse Sargent, Director, Community Engagement, Middlebury College will lead a workshop on “Integrating internships, service-learning, and coursework.” Saturday afternoon, Peg Falls-Corbitt, Ph.D., Virginia A. McCormick Pittman Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, Hendrix College will lead a workshop on “Integrating Internship and Vocation/Life Work.”
The eight week student internship ends with a symposium and closing conference to be held July 30 & 31 at the Atlanta Speech School in Atlanta, Georgia. The symposium theme is “Childhood Literacy as a Public Health and Economic Imperative: What Do We Know and What Do We Need to Do?” The Frueaff Closing Conference for Intern Reports (July 31) will also take place at the Atlanta Speech School in A-Town.
The Frueauff Conference is named in recognition of its principal financial supporter, the Charles A. Frueauff Foundation of Little Rock, AR.
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