Internship

Both the learning agreement and debriefing report prompt students to take responsibility for their learning “on the job” while also prompting them to document information they can later use to prepare clear and effective career materials. Students will enroll in a course Bush School 2021 Internship-Marketable Skills Practicum where they will receive support from Bush School advisors throughout their summer internship.

Bush School students in both degree programs who pursue the internship are required to participate during their first year of school or the summer between their first and second years of course work. Students must meet all internship requirements as outlined below, and the internship must be approved by the student’s faculty advisor and the Career Services staff.

NOTE: Students in the INTA department may opt to complete an intensive foreign language/cultural studies program to meet the language proficiency requirement of the degree program, instead of completing an internship.

Interning is an effective way for students to gain firsthand knowledge of the professional field in which they are interested. The Bush School internship lasts a minimum of ten weeks and requires each student to regularly reflect on what he/she is learning and how this relates to the knowledge and experience gained in the classroom. In addition, an internship offers a practical and efficient means of developing skills in a field and applying classroom methods and insights to ongoing public service challenges. To make the most of this high-impact experience, students will be expected to create a learning agreement in which they specify what they expect to learn; how, where, and from whom they expect to learn it; what evidence best supports their learning; and how they expect to be evaluated. At the end of the internship students will prepare a debriefing report that explains what they learned from the internship and how they progressed toward meeting the goals they set in the learning agreement.