Dani Gagnon
Features Editor
When February rolls in on campus, it feels as though everyone is up against a deadline, I.S. for seniors, Junior I.S. for juniors and for sophomores and first-years it’s the myriad applications to send in for summer internships. Students can send in countless applications to organizations around the country and be accepted to all of them, but more often than not, what it comes down to are the finances.
Although internships are highly encouraged for students in the liberal arts, choosing between an unpaid six to eight week internship now and the potential for a future job is frequently a difficult financial decision to make. Particularly in cities, where most internships take place, the expenses of completing an unpaid internship can become a very large burden. So, how are students supposed to make use of their summers through experiential learning and not break the bank?
This is when it is time for the colleges that educate students and prepare them for their future careers to step in and actively participate. In the past two years we’ve seen the College of Wooster move in just that direction with the development of APEX (Advising, Planning and Experiential Learning). Cathy McConnell, associate director of APEX directs attention to the APEX Fellowships, which hope to “provide students with funding, at the rate of roughly minimum wage, over the course of six to eight weeks (240-300 hours) to do under or unpaid internships or vocational exploration programs … [with the] possibility of receiving support of up to $600 for experience-related travel.”
APEX hopes to fund at least 45 students participating in summer internships, shared McConnell. “While it is true that some internships can be expensive, they do not necessarily need to be … with a bit of work, creativity and good communication skills, students usually can find internships or high-impact work experiences without incurring a lot of cost,” McConnell said.
Rita Frost ’14, who interned with No Impact Project last summer, is an example of what McConnell has in mind. No Impact Project is located in Washington, D.C., a metropolitan area that boasts a pricey cost of living. Frost said “Without the APEX grant, there is no way I would have had enough money to afford living in the District of Columbia.”
Finding housing for interns is easily one of the highest expenses, especially in D.C. Daniel Cohen ’14 who interned twice in Washington, once for Senator Sherrod Brown and once for Public Citizen’s Democracy is for People campaign, felt similarly in regards to the financial strains that come from paying to live in D.C. “Two summers ago, I lived on George Washington University’s campus and last summer I lived at American University,” said Cohen. [The grant] the College provided [was] the only way that I have been able to afford living in a place like Washington, D.C. The costs are incredible and while the resources provided by the school did not cover the entirety of the cost, they paid for a majority of the expenses.”
Frost, said of her fiscal budgeting, “Transportation was very pricey because my Metro card cost about $230 and I got it for three months — this was definitely my greatest expense. The last couple of weeks I rode my bike everywhere … and realized I should have done that the whole time. I could have saved literally hundreds of dollars. My food cost was actually fairly low because I volunteered at a farmer’s market and received free cheese and bread and half off all produce.”
The combination of Frost’s and Cohen’s experiences in D.C. exemplify the kind of learning APEX strives to help produce. With creativity, resourcefulness and a little bit of help from friends and family, there can be extremely successful internships amid the money schemes and exploitation of student interns.
As McConnell says, “Students who do the fellowships return to campus with a better understanding of the applicability of the liberal arts education and look to make connections from their experiences in their classes. This is integration of the liberal arts education at its best.”