Kaity Dallas, pursuing a BDP certificate in Children & Society, spent the spring semester as an intern with the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Austin, where she worked children and youth programs conducting community outreach, compiling data, and attending meetings and events with community stakeholders. Through this internship, Kaity had the opportunity to play an integral role in NAMI’s Ending the Silence program.
Faculty supervisor: Dr. Simone Browne
Name of project: Violence on the Market: Race and Privatized Surveillance and Policing in Modern Brazil
Faculty supervisor: Dr. Catharine Echols
Name of project: Using Moral Identity as a Strategy to Increase Sharing Behaviors in Children (Heroes Study)
Laurel’s internship at the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History exposed her to hands-on exhibit planning as well as general tasks related to installation and deinstallation of exhibits. She was able to learn about preservation, contemporary museum practices, and audience engagement.
How did you find your internship?
I learned about the internship through the BDP Opportunities blog.
What has been the most surprising aspect of your job?
I’ve been surprised at how the communication and time management skills I’ve developed and practiced as a PLUS peer coordinator have transferred into other areas of my life. I have become much more confident in public speaking and interpersonal communication through my work.
Andrew’s Creative Project exposed him to the disciplines of visual design, music, and technology. The project, called Tweets to Beats, contains an algorithm that scans a Twitter user’s tweets and uses the data to compose songs. He also had the opportunity to develop coding and web development skills, as the project was housed on a web platform.
Alyssa Miller interned at Art From the Streets, an organization that offers homeless people a space to create and sell art. The experience allowed her an opportunity to see how philanthropy and art intersect. She was exposed to issues related to planning gallery shows, fundraising, marketing, and non-profit administration. She was also able to learn about the difficulties and issues associated with planning and curating exhibitions in a gallery.
What has been the most rewarding part about working at the Sanger Center?
It is definitely seeing progress and growth in the students we tutor, as well as that of fellow tutors.
What has been the most surprising aspect of your job?
How important it is to extrapolate the information you are tutoring beyond the test and the classroom setting and into real-world applications.
Audrey conducted independent research on the social, economic, and political factors that contribute to renewable energy practices in Texas. This experience exposed her to a variety of disciplinary lenses, including perspectives from natural sciences and social sciences, through which she examined sustainability issues.
Digital Arts & Media student Jasmine Uy worked with a team on a 2D video game for her creative project. The game involved a puzzle platform with a plot centered on healing from emotional trauma. Jasmine’s goal was to focus on learning how to create assets for the game’s design and programming.