UNC Greensboro today announced that the Division of Student Affairs has been awarded a $50,000 grant from the SECU Foundation.
The funding, administered through the SECU Public Fellows Internship, will support 10 summer interns – students who are passionate about civic and community engagement and who will contribute to the impactful work of qualifying organizations. Participating organizations will offer students experience in functional areas including community health, program management, communications and marketing, web design and development, community organizing, event planning, business administration, and more. Interns are expected to develop and leverage skill sets needed to help organizations reach their mission and in turn make a positive impact on the community and/or provide benefit to the public.
The summer 2020 SECU Public Fellows Internship participants are:
- Belle Downing, Guilford County Health
- Scarlett Nunez, Reading Connections
- Christi Prater, Horsepower Therapeutic
- Margaree Brown, Mustard Seed Community
- Tyler Davis, East Greensboro NOW!
- James Eades, Greensboro Farmers Curb Market
- Jariah Morris, YWCA
- Daisy Carranza, Center for New North Carolinians
- Aneesah Abdur-Razzaq, Habitat for Humanity of Orange County
- Ashley Westman, Orange County Rape Crisis Center
“This will be a transformational experience for our students,” said Dr. Cathy Akens, vice chancellor for student affairs. “The opportunity to engage in meaningful work and contribute to the objectives of local organizations will provide tangible impacts on the rural communities they serve. We are grateful for the generous support of SECU Foundation to make these internships possible, which will create a lasting developmental impact on our UNCG students while offering great benefit to our greater community.”
To ensure students are prepared for a successful internship experience, UNCG will provide students with a pre-internship professional development session to discuss workplace expectations, define and operationalize their indicated learning outcomes, and understand professionalism in the workplace. UNCG will serve as a continued support to students throughout the duration of the program. Upon completion of the program, interns will again participate in a professional development session that reflects on the requirements of the internship and supports students in making connections between their experiences and personal and professional goals.
“I am most looking forward to growing individually and helping others to understand and acknowledge their potential no matter the present circumstances,” said Aneesah Abdur-Razzaq, intern for Habitat for Humanity of Orange County. “I want to help others to realize that they are far greater than what they feel may be limiting them.”
Every student will receive a $5,000 stipend for their work contributions this summer and will present their experience to a local SECU Advisory Board at the conclusion of the project, providing an opportunity to network, practice their presentation skills, and share what the internship experience meant to them.
The SECU Public Fellows Internship program will be facilitated by the Office of Leadership and Civic Engagement (OLCE) and Career & Professional Development (CPD), departments within the Division of Student Affairs. OLCE prepares students to serve as change-makers and develops, promotes, and advances civic engagement, leadership development, and meaningful service to create positive social change. CPD serves a mission to support students through coaching, professional development programming, and guided self-discovery to build active networks and become career-ready, in the ways most applicable to students’ professional path.
Project leads are Katelyn Bodwell, OLCE assistant director for civic engagement; Kristina Gage, OLCE associate director for civic engagement; Nicole Hall, director of Career & Professional Development; Dr. Megan Walters, associate director, Career & Professional Development; and Lindsey Woelker, interim director of OLCE.
Photography by Grant Evan Gilliard, University Communications
