Academic Internship

Stars Program

  • My internship site is the STARS Program working with at-risk adolescent males and females in a structured residential setting.
  • I lead group therapy sessions with a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC), I assisted program residents with learning everyday life skills, and helped prepare residents for job interviews.
  • This internship has helped me understand at-risk youth as I plan on working in higher education and never had the opportunity to officially work with this population. I learned how strong these young adults have had to be after dealing with extreme crises at such an early age. They made me feel welcomed and shared their stories with me, which made me feel that they trust me. This was such a fulfilling, humbling experience.
  • Some skill that employers seek that I further developed is verbal communication and processing information. This is a position where I am in contact with highly sensitive information and have to follow rules and protocol to avoid breaches in privacy and HIPAA laws while communicating with several staff.
  • This experience relates to my future goals because it is always an opportunity to develop interpersonal skills and allows me to make meaningful connections with people regardless of age. I have learned how to pass on skills for empowerment to others and seen the effects of positive encouragement and motivation.