8:27 a.m., Jan. 13, 2010----Three graduate students pursuing master's degrees in counseling and student affairs practice in higher education in the University of Delaware Department of Human Development and Family Studies participated in elite internship programs last summer and since returning to UD in the fall, they've been busy applying those experiences to their coursework and assistantships.

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“It was a total full-circle learning experience to have learned the theory in class, to have applied it at my internship, and then to have come back here with a better understanding and apply it again in my assistantship,” says Carly Day of her internship experience.

Last year, Professor John Bishop encouraged his students to apply for the extremely competitive internships offered through the National Orientation Directors Association (NODA) and the Association of College and University Housing Officers - International (ACUHO-I). Both programs involve an extensive interview process, and selected students are placed in colleges and universities throughout the United States or, in some cases, the world.

Day landed a 10-week internship with ACUHO-I at Jacksonville University in Florida. During her time there, she worked with the professional staff and was in charge of four undergraduate resident assistants. She also participated in RA training and conference planning.

“Having the opportunity to work with students in different capacities allows you to be able to apply that with students at different schools and gives you a better understanding of the similarities and differences in students across universities,” says Day.

Day says she's applied what she learned during her internship at her graduate assistantship in the counseling center at UD. She spent much of her time at Jacksonville University revamping the RA programming model, focusing on the developmental perspective of students.

Day says she now feels comfortable working to revise and update the programming models at the University of Delaware.

She's not the only student who landed an internship with ACUHO-I. Christina Bussie spent almost three months working at the University of Minnesota's Duluth campus. During her internship, Bussie focused on housing and residential life, also helping to train RAs. She was able to relate theories she had previously learned in the classroom to freshman transition issues.

“It was an opportunity to work in a different administrative area that I had only heard about. It was great to have hands-on experience with it,” says Bussie, who had never traveled beyond the East Coast before. “It also gave me the opportunity to experience something new.”

Another graduate student, Sara Jaques, spent the summer at Drexel University in Philadelphia through a NODA orientation internship. She served as a program coordinator in charge of orientation for freshmen students at Drexel. After eight sessions of two-day orientations, Jaques says the experience helped her decide what areas of student affairs she'd like to pursue, and it also gave her the experience she needs on her resume as she begins searching for a job.

She has also applied her experience to her assistantship at the University's Bank of America Career Services Center and to her current internship with the UD Office of Admissions.

“I have another tool under my belt, and I can share experiences in class and challenge opinions, which I think has really helped me overall,” says Jaques.

The students say everything they've learned has helped them move further toward their career goals. As they work to complete their graduate courses, they say they also try to share their experiences with first-year graduate students in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies.

“You can learn a lot in the classroom, but learning really comes into play when you're on site and get to use that,” said Day.

Article by Cassandra Kramer