This qualitative capstone examines the inaugural Central Indiana Regional Development Authority (CIRDA) Scholar placement, a pilot designed to strengthen career readiness and support Indiana’s graduate retention goals. As both participant and embedded researcher, I used an autoethnographic, phenomenological case study of one semester in the Scholar role to explore how the program shaped my perceived employability, how staff and regional partners engaged the role, and what design choices could improve future placements. Data included reflective journals, check-in notes, and descriptions of work artifacts. Inductive thematic analysis generated four themes: entering a still-forming program with an unclear role, extensive observational access with limited structured contribution, research-heavy tasks that both stretched skills and exposed preparation gaps, and moments of contribution, mentorship, and clear program potential. The study offers formative recommendations for clarifying the Scholar role, structuring semester-long placements with defined projects, better aligning tasks with student preparation, and tracking alumni outcomes.

Prior research on internships and work-integrated learning (WIL) shows that structured, supervised, and reflective placements help students develop transferable skills, clearer professional identities, and stronger signals of “employability” for employers. Public-affairs scholarship emphasizes community-engaged and partnership-based models that place students in real public and nonprofit organizations, generating both civic learning and portfolio-ready work. Emerging evidence suggests that place-based internships can support regional talent retention by connecting students to local employers and communities. However, few studies focus on municipal or regional public-sector placements or link specific program designs to graduates’ decisions to stay in-state. This project addresses those gaps by examining a place-based Scholar pilot in a regional authority and considering how its design aligns with WIL best practices and state-level retention priorities. 

All journals, notes, and artifact descriptions were read multiple times and coded inductively. I used open coding to identify recurring phrases and incidents (e.g., program ambiguity, observation vs. contribution, research stretch), grouped related codes into categories, and refined them into four themes: entering a still-forming pilot with an unclear role; high-level observational access with limited structure for contribution; research-heavy tasks that both stretched skills and exposed preparation gaps; and moments of contribution, mentorship, and program potential.

Overall, the pilot offered meaningful exposure to regional public-sector work but lacked some design features associated with stronger WIL outcomes, including clear role expectations, structured reflection, calibrated tasks, and consistent feedback. The case suggests that clarifying the Scholar role, anchoring students in semester-long placements with defined projects, aligning tasks with student preparation, supporting hosts with simple tools, and tracking alumni could help the program evolve into a more robust public-sector fellowship that supports both student readiness and Indiana’s graduate retention goals.

Indiana continues to lose a large share of its college graduates to out-of-state jobs, prompting concerns about a “leaking talent pipeline” and calls for stronger education-to-employment pathways. Within this context, the Central Indiana Regional Development Authority (CIRDA) partnered with Indiana University Indianapolis to pilot the CIRDA Scholar program, placing an undergraduate student in regional public-sector work. This study examines my experience as the inaugural Scholar to understand how the placement influenced perceived career readiness, how the Scholar role functioned inside CIRDA and member governments, and what design changes could better support Indiana’s graduate-retention goals. The central question asks how participation in the pilot shaped my readiness for public-sector work, how staff and partners perceived the program’s value, and how the Scholar model might be refined for future cohorts. 

This capstone used a qualitative, phenomenological case study with an autoethnographic lens, focusing on one semester as the inaugural CIRDA Scholar. As both participant and researcher, I documented my experience to explore how the placement influenced perceived career readiness and how staff and partners appeared to understand and use the Scholar role. Data included dated journals and brief fieldnotes after meetings, shadow days, and research work; notes from regular check-ins with my supervisor and senior staff; and descriptions of work artifacts such as research reports and slide decks, with sensitive details removed. Planned surveys for supervisors and shadow hosts were distributed but not returned in time to analyze. This single-case, single-semester design means the findings are formative and not statistically generalizable. 

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