Student Engagement 2. Intern Foundry (IF): Growing a Cohort-Based Internship Program with a Community Partner
Rebecca Baskerville, Associate Director, Experiential & Global Learning, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Many Honors students wish to use their talents to “give back” and make a positive impact in their communities and beyond. Some students are still exploring career options and have limited experience in professional settings. Lincoln has a thriving non-profit sector, but many organizations face staffing challenges and have a backlog of projects. Concerns about “brain drain” have intensified in recent years, “as more people have exited the state than have settled in Nebraska from other states each year since 2010. For people with four-year degrees, the net out migration has been persistent and negative.”
To help address these challenges, Nebraska’s University Honors Program (UHP) developed the Intern Foundry (IF) program in partnership with The Foundry Community, which “exists to elevate Nebraska nonprofit and purpose-driven businesses with great space, a supportive community, reliable services, and added capacity.” IF pairs Honors students with paid, project-based internships addressing key areas of community need. IF launched in spring 2022 with 9 students, growing to 20 students in spring 2023 and 30 students in spring 2024. Small nonprofit and purpose-driven organizations provide an ideal learning laboratory for students who want to do meaningful work. Students from a wide range of majors are matched with an organization and project based on their skills and interests. IF projects support the organization’s most urgent needs, and supervisors view interns as critical members of their teams.
All students in the IF program take two Honors courses related to the internship experience. First, students take UHON 401H: Purpose-Driven Project Management, a 1-credit course to discover best methods for project management, fundamentals of purpose-driven businesses, and the “why” behind the assigned project. This course begins online during the January term and ends in-person, where students connect with their internship supervisor as they develop their project plan. During the regular spring semester, students enroll in a special section of UHON 99H: Internships. This asynchronous, zero-credit Honors Experiences course focuses on guided critical reflection. Upon successful completion of the course, students earn 3 Honors hours.
Students receive mentorship from supervisors, the professional staff at The Foundry, two IF student coordinators, and the Honors staff. Other key benefits of the program for students include flexibility on scheduling and work site; networking opportunities and professional development events; and a cohort of peers pursuing similar experiences. Students develop transferable skills such as project management, communication, grant writing, fundraising, marketing, research, website development, advocacy, time management, and problem solving. Ultimately, they forge connections to their organizations and causes, to each other, and to the city and state, reducing the likelihood of brain drain.
The IF program has grown into a signature program for both Nebraska’s UHP and our community partner, The Foundry. In my proposed presentation, I will discuss the evolution of the IF program from 2021 to present and our efforts to incorporate best practices in experiential learning, leveraging community partnerships, and creating a cohort-based opportunity that cuts across academic disciplines. I will share the opportunities and challenges of this internship program model and strategies for developing similar programs and partnerships.
