Citizens Bank and Wheaton help interns find niche in public service
February 28, 2000
Citizens Bank recently awarded Wheaton a $4,500 grant providing opportunities for service learning in the form of January internships. Tom Hollister, president and CEO of Citizens Bank of Massachusetts, is also a member of Wheaton[base ']s Board of Trustees and helped forge the connection between the two institutions. The grant allows students to gain valuable experience in what would typically be an unpaid internship, while at the same time providing for their financial needs.
In the first phase of this three-year program, sophomore Jeannine Dembski interned at Rosie's Place, and senior Ellen Rice interned at Reach Out and Read. Rosie's Place is a drop-in and emergency shelter committed to helping women achieve independence by providing shelter, advocacy, education, and economic development, as well as permanent, supportive housing. Jeannine spent the month of January with the Food Access Initiative and conducted intake interviews.
''It was an amazing experience,'' Jeannine says. ''As a sociology major, it brought my classroom lessons to life. I learned more about people, about what works, what doesn[base ']t and what needs to change. It made me want to do more.''
At Reach Out and Read, Ellen reviewed and compiled progress reports relating to fundraising, volunteer resources and book volume. This national program seeks to promote early literacy by incorporating it into standard pediatric care. Pediatricians provide both education and materials so that reading aloud at home from a personal library becomes a regular activity.
''I learned so much over this one month,'' Ellen reports. ''I learned a lot about non-profits, but I also learned a lot about myself and my professional goals, what to expect in the real world. I learned valuable communication skills, too.''
Jennifer Sanborn, community service coordinator at the Filene Center for Work and Learning, along with Dan Golden, Wheaton[base ']s dean for work and learning, worked with the organizations to interview and select interns as well as develop meaningful internship opportunities with solid accomplishments.
Given Citizens[base '] dedication to creating positive solutions in the communities they serve, the grant and the selection of non-profit organizations as recipients of the interns was a natural outgrowth of both Wheaton[base ']s and Citizens[base '] missions. ''Citizens offers their employees a community service sabbatical program, releasing people on company time for extended community service projects,'' explained Sanborn. ''We now have a terrific opportunity to carry out a service model that has proven successful, and put dedicated Wheaton students into Boston service organizations.''