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The Children’s Museum’s Internship Program is definitely one of the best around! As we prepare to celebrate the program’s 25th anniversary, Sommer Scarpino, Volunteer Services intern, will be sharing more about what makes the Internship Program so extraordinary by highlighting past interns in the series, “Where Are They Now?”
Read the "Where Are the Interns Now?" Series:
- John Messner, Glasgow, Scotland
- Mary Wolfla, Perth, Australia
- Maggie Johnson, Indiana Statehouse
[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"39190","attributes":{"class":"media-image","typeof":"foaf:Image","style":"","alt":"Joe and Steph in Intern Central"}}]]
This summer, I’ve had the opportunity to work on multiple projects for the Intern Program, and there’s no better time because this year is the Intern Program’s 25th anniversary! The Children’s Museum claims that an internship at the world’s largest children’s museum is “NOT your typical internship”…and I’ve already seen that it certainly isn’t! From Professional Development workshops to Cultural Field Trips, interns have many one-of-a-kind opportunities at the museum.
The intern program is also award-winning! In 2012 Vault, Inc. named the Children's Museum as one of the top 10 nonprofit internship programs in the nation. And in February 2013 it was recognized by INTERNnet as the 2012 Intern Program of the Year at the IMPACT Awards.
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These awards are for good reason! Each year, the museum hosts around 50 interns who work in many areas of the museum, from Marketing and Graphic Design to School Programs and Human Resources—and beyond! The museum encourages students from all majors to apply and offers opportunities for undergraduate, graduate, and even recent high school graduates. Mentors lead interns throughout their time at the museum and are a valuable source of professional and personal guidance.
One of the unique aspects of an internship is the opportunity to participate in Professional Development, a series of weekly workshops to prepare interns for careers. President and CEO Dr. Patchen leads several of these workshops and provides an excellent chance for interns to learn from his career.
This year marks the 25th anniversary of this amazing program. Over 1,200 interns have had opportunities at the museum since 1988! To celebrate, the museum will be having an anniversary event for all former interns and mentors on July 20th. This event will be a chance for all alumni of the program to reconnect and celebrate the many successes of the Intern Program. As part of this celebration, over the next week we’ll be hearing from three former interns who have taken diverse paths since their time in the Internship Program!
Are you one of the 1,200 former museum interns? Leave us a comment and let us know what you’ve been up to!
