Summer programs start application process early

Abby Loomis Guest Writer

After being spontaneously called up to the podium to speak about her participation in Vassar’s Community Fellows summer program, Lulu Caruso ’07 immediately launched into an energetic and enthusiastic speech on why her experience was so valuable.

“Community Fellows is an amazing way to work 40 hours and be an employee,” she said. “It’s not just an internship. They suffer a loss when you’re gone.”

The Community Fellows program, in which selected students are given a grant to work at a Poughkeepsie nonprofit for the summer, was one of the many options that students learned of during the Career Development Office’s Summer Opportunities presentation on Jan. 26. The 100 plus people crammed into the Aula listening to students like Caruso describe their experiences served as evidence that the rush for summer placement is underway. Motivations for forgoing relaxation during the three month break vary nearly as much as the numerous internships, jobs, and fellowships available. Isella Ramirez ’07, who attended the presentation, hopes to get involved with Vassar’s Ford Scholars summer program because of her personal background.

“My adviser has a proposal to do research on the Oaxacan community in Poughkeepsie,” she said. “She wanted someone fluent in Spanish and who is interested in the Latino community. I’m from a Latino community, and I think it’s important to learn about the community here.”

Ramirez is also interested in the program because of her desire to get involved outside of Vassar.

“I knew I wanted to leave the gates,” she said. “You’re learning from experience, not just from books.”

In Ramirez’s eyes, it is an experience worth missing a whole summer with her family and friends in her home of Los Angeles.

“I always look forward to going home, and it’s going to be different,” she said. “It’s time I leave home anyway, and it’s going to be important. I would volunteer with the community in high school, but it was nothing where I was getting research to go possibly in a book or study.”

Tito Crafts ’06 also plans to skip his usual summer spent at home in Massachusetts, hoping to gain experience in his area of interest, film. Unlike Ramirez, Crafts is looking outside of Vassar fellowships for his opportunity.

“I want to work for a film production company or firm in New York City,” he said. “I want to try and start as soon as possible.”

Crafts chose to look for an internship as opposed to a paying job for a variety of reasons. “Internships are easier to find and to get approved for,” he said. “Also, if you have a part-time internship, you have time to a find a part-time job on the side.”

To avoid the high prices of living in New York City, Crafts is planning on “weaseling NYU housing” or staying with family friends. Jen Cable ’07, who hopes to work in an art-related job in Philadelphia this summer, is also looking for creative solutions to the financial drawbacks of an unpaid internship.

“Obviously, the money issue is a con for internships [as opposed to jobs],” Cable said. “Even if an internship is paid, it’s less than if you were waitressing.”

Despite the inevitable monetary difficulties, Cable still hopes to find an internship, citing the lifetime value of such an experience.

“The pro to internships is that you get to investigate different types of jobs you could be interested in as a career,” said Cable. Last summer, I worked at the county social services agency in my small New Jersey town. I didn’t enjoy the actual work, and now I know I’m less fitted to that kind of work.”

Even freshmen are interested in the learning experiences that internships could provide. Eric Langhans ’08, like Cable, hopes to find an internship that will shed light on the direction he should head in college, and eventually in a career.

“I think I want to do something with either town or state government,” he said, “because I think I want to be an International Studies major. Internships give you a really good opportunity to figure out what you like and what you don’t like.”