Winter 2001
Volume 3, Number 2
  


Cooperative Extension and Schreyer Honors College
create internship program

By Karen L. Trimbath and Deborah A. Benedetti


A new partnership between Penn State Cooperative Extension and The Schreyer Honors College will create internships enabling Schreyer Scholars to apply their learning outside the classroom within communities throughout Pennsylvania.

This partnership has great potential to make life better for many people, Dr. Cheryl Achterberg, dean of The Schreyer Honors College, said.

“I am a strong believer in outreach and community involvement,” Achterberg added. “I have participated myself in such activities throughout my professional career and also benefited as a child from others’ outreach efforts. The experience that a student receives from an internship like this, however, is even more important today. Students simply can’t gain access to the best career or graduate school opportunities without this kind of experience. So, it’s an activity we can all gain from — the Cooperative Extension offices, the communities they serve and the students who learn and gladly provide this service.”

The internship program, which begins in the summer, will match honors students with Penn State Cooperative Extension agents throughout the Commonwealth on community projects, according to Dr. Theodore R. Alter, associate vice president for outreach, director of Cooperative Extension and associate dean in the College of Agricultural Sciences.

“Schreyer Scholars are very special students,” Alter said. “They are extraordinarily bright and capable, and they have a strong interest in applying their scholarship in a real-world setting. I have asked our regional directors of Cooperative Extension and Outreach to identify potential internship opportunities for the students. Our goal is to ensure that each internship project affords a substantive intellectual and practical experience for the student.”

Alter envisions students will make significant contributions in such areas as designing curricula, teaching, developing and conducting workshops and evaluating the impact of outreach programs on the people and communities served by the programs.

“I hope that through the internship program, the students will have an intellectual, challenging and rewarding experience; that they will gain practical perspective and experience in their subject matter or discipline, as it applies to the everyday world of work serving others; that they will be exposed to Outreach and Cooperative Extension work as a career opportunity; and most importantly, that they will become engaged in their community — thus experiencing and learning the value of civic involvement,” he said.

“The internship program is a very rich initiative in terms of learning for the students and Cooperative Extension educators,” Alter added. “This program is a manifestation of the University’s commitments to engagement, to civility and to the integration of teaching, research and service.”

Alter said the partnership between Penn State Cooperative Extension and The Schreyer Honors College demonstrates the collaboration and connection of Penn State Cooperative Extension across the entire University and the University’s commitment to integrating teaching, research and service through outreach.

“This partnership is consistent with the philosophy of Penn State as Pennsylvania’s land-grant university,” he said. “The internship program is a very exciting initiative. It will help ensure that our graduates are prepared to meet the challenges they will face in the world.”

Dr. Josephine Carubia, coordinator of Student Programs and Service Learning for The Schreyer Honors College, noted the partnership benefits everyone involved. She and Alter are working together to implement this program.

“Cooperative Extension will match internship opportunities with the interests and abilities of Schreyer Scholars, who will then work with Penn State Cooperative Extension agents, community leaders and faculty to serve community needs,” Alter said.

The Schreyer Honors College and Penn State Cooperative Extension have committed $10,000 each to provide students with stipends during their internships — an indication that both partners are serious about supporting this program, Carubia said.

“This financial commitment makes it possible for more students to consider applying,” she added.

Planning is under way to develop internship opportunities, and the program’s first interns are being selected.

Carubia said the Cooperative Extension Director Leadership Team for the Capital Region has already suggested several possible internship opportunities: food processor consultant intern, marketing intern, engineering intern and horticulture research intern. Other potential internship opportunities could include health-related projects, youth development initiatives, gardening programs and water quality research.

An outreach program of Penn State Cooperative Extension and The Schreyer Honors College

An idea of Schreyer Honors College Dean Cheryl Achterberg’s (photo at left) will become a reality this summer when the first Schreyer Scholars team up with Penn State Cooperative Extension agents on projects benefiting communities across Pennsylvania. Dr. Theodore R. Alter, associate vice president for outreach, director of Cooperative Extension and associate dean in the College of Agricultural Sciences, and Dr. Josephine Carubia, coordinator of Student Programs and Service Learning for The Schreyer Honors College, are working together to implement the new student internship program.
  

U.Ed.OCE 01-8002/mkm/GSM