Wright State University’s Women’s Studies internship class, “Women, Leadership, and Social Change,” is giving students real life experiences with the support of a college classroom. Taught by Amber Vlasnik, director of the Women’s Center, this class combines work in the classroom with an individual internship experience for each student.
During Spring 2014, five students enrolled in this unique class. Two served at Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio, two interned at the YWCA Dayton Youth Services, and one served at Michael’s House in Fairborn. The work at the actual internship varied dramatically from student to student; however, one thing was consistent– over the course of their time at the internship, each student worked on a project. This project addressed a need of the organization and could not have been completed without the direct involvement of the student. This gave the students a chance to really immerse themselves within the organization and see that what they were doing was having a direct impact on the organization and its mission.
One Student’s Story
Marissa Kirkland interned at Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio and played a big role there. Her project was to research book fairs all over the country to ultimately create and give a presentation on her findings. She presented the trends that she found and how these affect or should affect the book sales of Planned Parenthood. When beginning this internship she had no idea that she would be working on a project of such scale, recalling, “I tried not to expect anything when going into the internship.” Going into the work without expectations and an open mind really helped Marissa benefit from the experience.
While Marissa may not work in development in the future, she believes that she still greatly benefited from the experience. She feels that she can walk away with skills she didn’t have before and with connections that wouldn’t have been otherwise made. Even if there was no solid guarantee of a job at the end of the internship, Marissa believes that this was a wonderful experience for all involved. Professor Vlasnik explains, “You can see the student start understanding their possibilities for the future as well as the impact of what they can do if they concentrate their efforts with an organization and it’s rewarding for them, for the organization there are serving, and for the instructor.” This dedication speaks to the high quality effort of the College of Liberal Arts in preparing its students for internships and ultimately the world after graduation.
