August 7, 2006 == MEDIA ADVISORY
Calvin College has received a four-year, $250,000 grant from the Detroit-based McGregor Fund to create a new internship program.
The Comenius Scholars Program, named for a 16th century educational reformer, will provide Calvin students from a whole array of disciplines with internships in local nonprofit organizations.
Kurt Schaefer, a Calvin economics professor will direct the new program which will partner with Calvin's Office of Career Development where Beth Cok and Laurie Lemmen will coordinate internship placements in local nonprofits.
Glenn Triezenberg, director of Career Services for the college, says he welcomes the addition of the McGregor funding, noting that he has seen his internship operation grow from eight student intern placements per year six years ago to over 500 students placed last year in local, regional and national internship sites.
In the first year of the internship the Calvin program will provide 75 percent of the student’s wages, with the nonprofit providing the remaining 25 percent.
"If the employer has a financial stake in the intern, it's more likely they'll have a high-quality work experience for the student," Schaefer explains.
In the ensuing years of the internship the nonprofit will be expected to absorb an increasing share of the student's wages. This arrangement will enable nonprofits to develop long-term internship opportunities while allowing the college to sustain the Comenius program beyond the time the grant expires.
Students placed in Comenius internships will also attend a seminar sponsored by the program.
"In general, it's like MBA boot camp for liberal arts students," says Schaefer. "It will teach the students business skills, and allow them to reflect on their internship experiences and the concept of personal vocation. We'll do something of high enough quality that employees of our partner nonprofits might want to attend too."
He adds that the program is thinking about innovative ways to structure internships, including creating teams of interns, each working in a specialized area such as communication, human resources or Web services in one nonprofit.
"They'd be like small consulting firms," Schaefer says of this possible model.
The program's namesake would approve. Comenius, a Czech-born teacher, scientist, writer and education reformer, completely revamped the educational systems of Sweden and England. He was a pioneer of experiential education.
Contact Kurt Schaefer at 616-526-6298 or schk@calvin.edu
For the full story see http://www.calvin.edu/news/releases/2005_06/comenius.htm
-end-
Received on Mon Aug 7 09:59:27 2006
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.8 : Mon Aug 07 2006 - 09:59:27 EDT