Dozens of Elon students and community partners who participated in the Campus Alamance program gathered in LaRose Student Commons for a closing ceremony breakfast for this year's cohort.
Elon students and community partners who participated in the second annual Campus Alamance program this summer gathered in LaRose Student Commons for the Campus Alamance Closing Breakfast on Wednesday, Sept. 21.
Campus Alamance is an eight-week paid internship program for Elon students to gain experience working with community partners and organizations. Started in 2021 with 14 students interning at 13 Alamance County organizations, the program has nearly tripled its student participation with 39 students this summer and doubled its community partners with 28.
“There’s no more powerful testament to the good work of both Elon and Alamance County than when we have these partnerships at work that are mutually beneficial,” said Elon President Connie Ledoux Book. “The goal is to have 100 students. I know that they will end up changing people’s lives and the relationship Elon has with Alamance County.”
Book spoke of the long history of experiential education at Elon and how the university has adopted experiential education as a way to deliver values to students. “Internships are designed to deliver that kind of experience that you all will take into the workplace,” she said.
Book asked students to speak about some of the values that their internships gave them. Community, compassion and stewardship were a few of the responses that students called out. But for Katie Weber ’23, a strategic communications and media analytics double major, the biggest value from her internship was the experience itself.
“It was cool to actually use what I’ve learned and apply it in a real-world setting. Now, I have a bit more clarity on where I could potentially go post-grad,” Weber said, who interned with TS Designs helping with social media marketing and analytics gathering.
For Feraud Calixte, founder and lead planner of Vantage Pointe Planning, Campus Alamance was as much of a learning experience for him as it was for the students.
“We’re a startup firm and this was an opportunity to work with local talent and position us in terms of managing style, growth and give an opportunity to students to learn financial planning on a ground level and how to run a business,” Calixte said.
The Campus Alamance program has been greenlit for a third year and has begun the recruiting process, according to Robin Kazmarek, director of internships for Elon College, the College of Arts & Sciences.
“We see great opportunity ahead for this program,” Kazmarek said.