HIED 66492: Internship, Practicum, & Field Experience (2)

Reflection:

I worked as an intern in the Office of Alumni Relations and University Activities at the University of Mount Union for a semester. As an undergraduate, I used to think that the alumni office had the most fun job at my college. While I have had fun during my time in the alumni office at Mount Union, I have discovered that it is only through hard work and dedication that the fun events the office puts on can be successful.

During the semester, I helped make several of our alumni and university events a success. I helped prepare for and staff our Evening of Broadway, M Club Reverse Raffle, and Schooler Lecture events. Additionally, I helped prepare for or supported remotely our Arizona, Florida, Education on the Run, Senior Salute, and Tour of Italy events. In addition to my duties preparing for events, I also worked on other support projects throughout the semester. My largest project in terms of time and scale was the update of Raisers Edge using information collected from LinkedIn. I believe this internship was an overall beneficial experience. While I do not anticipate seeking employment in an alumni or development function after graduation, I will know more about what the alumni relation function will likely do at the institution where I will work. If I work in the career development area after graduation, I will need to collaborate often with the alumni office. By knowing just a little bit about how alumni offices operate, I will have better ideas for how to approach our collaboration. To a larger extent, this internship has helped me continue to develop my event planning and implementation skills, which I will likely need in whatever position I seek after graduation.

Objectives:

• 1. To provide structure for supervised professional internships that include both learning and practice of increasing complexity and involve working directly with administrators, staff, and students in a higher education setting;

  2. To provide resources to choose from among a variety of supervised professional experiences that will help develop and refine competencies compatible with the academic and professional goals of the Student, in consultation with his or her Instructor and the On-Site Supervisor;

  3. To provide experiences that will clarify and broaden professional career alternatives for the Student;

  4. To establish a teaching and learning environment in which the On-Site Supervisor assumes a teaching role, encouraging the Student to experience and be adequately instructed in pertinent aspects of the functions, responsibilities, and relationships of the internship site and various personnel involved in these activities;

  5. To provide the student with opportunities for the establishment of professional relationships with administrators in higher education and student affairs settings; and

  6. To ensure that supervised experiences are conducted under established professional ethical practices and that participants are provided with support for resolving concerns or questions during the internship.