![\"The](\"http:\/\/www.hollins.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/dc.jpg\")
Internships abound for college students in Washington, D.C., but often there\u2019s more to getting an internship than simply asking for one. Thanks to a well-established alumnae network\u2014strengthened in the past year by the hard work of Ellen Parke \u201971 and Barbara \u201cDuck\u201d Duckworth \u201972\u2014Hollins students have an array of Signature internships to apply for. Parke and Duckworth are not only ensuring the availability of coveted opportunities, they are also working to uphold the key element needed to empower any network: support.<\/p>\n
Parke and Duckworth benefited from the groundwork alumnae had already laid. Suzy Mink \u201974, senior philanthropic advisor at Hollins, headed a Washington, D.C., steering committee to brainstorm, develop, and secure internships. And before her, a steady population of Hollins students connected with the D.C. chapter and D.C.-area alumnae for opportunities in the area. The goal for Duckworth and Parke was to update the opportunities to meet Hollins\u2019 internship requirements, expand contributions to the portfolio, and increase alumnae engagement.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt takes a lot of work,\u201d Duckworth said. \u201cOver the course of the summer, we worked with alums in Washington and with the [Hollins] Career Center. We coordinated that information and exceeded the requirements for 30 internships. At that point, the Career Center worked with Hollins students to align them with available opportunities\u201d for J-Term 2016.<\/p>\n
Once students were matched with internships, Parke and Duckworth addressed how to keep students supported during their time in Washington. Chapter-wide events as well as private or smaller events kept students connected and involved with each other and the D.C. alumnae chapter.<\/p>\n
![\"Barbara](\"http:\/\/www.hollins.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/duckworth-parke.jpg\")
Parke and Duckworth (left) are gearing up to repeat their successful steps for next year. Their efforts will be bolstered by their role on Hollins\u2019 national steering committee on alumnae engagement, which among other goals aims to strengthen the university\u2019s internship program, in part by focusing on sectors and industries of interest to students. There is a need, for example, for STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) opportunities and getting hands-on experience.<\/p>\n
For Parke, her role in building support for the D.C. internship program is \u201call about giving back. It\u2019s about helping students and ensuring they benefit from all those who went before them at Hollins.\u201d Duckworth said she has stayed actively connected to Hollins since she graduated but until her recent experience, she didn\u2019t how much was involved in finding and supporting internships. It\u2019s also been a topic of discussion among the Alumnae Board.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Hollins network is extremely strong. Whenever you are on campus, there is this tremendous bond\u2014we do not do enough to take advantage of that for programs like this,\u201d Duckworth said. \u201cI really think we need to expand alumnae engagement. It could be extremely powerful.\u201d<\/p>\n
The number of internships in January 2017 will remain at 30, but Parke and Duckworth are looking to mix the offerings. \u201cEven though we could have the same number of sponsors as last year,\u201d Duckworth said, \u201cit would be good to have opportunities that match the broad interests of Hollins students.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sindhu Hirani Blume \u201993 is a writer and communications consultant. She got her first job as a reporter through an internship at a local newspaper in Maryland.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The internship scene in Washington, D.C., is more active than ever, thanks to recent efforts by two alumnae who have used a solid foundation to build even more opportunities for students. By Sindhu Hirani Blume ’93 Internships abound for college […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7019,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[67],"class_list":["post-7017","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","tag-summer-2016"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hollins.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7017","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hollins.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hollins.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hollins.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hollins.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7017"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.hollins.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7017\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7021,"href":"https:\/\/www.hollins.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7017\/revisions\/7021"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hollins.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7019"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hollins.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hollins.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hollins.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}