The Yawkey Nonprofit Undergraduate Internship Program, funded by the Yawkey Foundations, is being offered for the first time this summer.
Students chosen for the program will be placed with one of six participating nonprofits in the area: Catholic Central High School, CLASS Inc., Family Services of the Merrimack Valley, the Greater Lawrence Family Health Center, Groundwork Lawrence and the Merrimack Valley YMCA.
They will perform work in such fields as marketing and communications; program development and community engagement; and social-justice advocacy, and are eligible to earn up to $2,800 for the summer.
“The program is truly an alliance of faculty, corporate partners and nonprofit organizations,” said Jay Caporale ’87, vice president of corporate and foundation engagement, “and will help students gain experience while actually getting paid.
The selection process is competitive. Interested students must apply through the O’Brien Center for Career Development and, if advanced, interview with the hiring firms on campus in
early May.
Those selected will meet with a mentor at the nonprofit organization, who will help craft a learning agreement and develop a process for evaluating the student’s work and progress. At the conclusion of the internship, students will present their experiences to their respective organization’s leadership team.
In addition, participants will be required to write a reflective essay at both the beginning and end of the internship.
Though the focus of this internship is providing students with hands-on workplace experience, the collaborative nature of the program knows no bounds.
“The program meets our mission of preparing students through experiential learning, and also calls on our Augustinian traditions of working in the community,” Caporale said.
