Spring Break Externships

Program benefits students and alumni.

The Center for Careers, Life, and Service’s externship program offers students the opportunity to shadow Grinnell alumni or friends of the College in their professions over spring break — usually for three to five days. The experience typically includes informational interviews, a tour of the host’s workplace, and sometimes participation in actual office projects.

This is the fourth year that alumni volunteers have hosted Grinnell students in short spring break externships. A number of alumni hosts believe they would have benefited from the program, if it had been available when they were students. “I wish it was something Grinnell had when I was in college,” says Trevor Jones ’94, director of museum collections and exhibitions at the Kentucky Historical Society in Frankfort, Ky.

Alumni hosts come from classes ranging from the 1960s on. “This is my first year hosting an extern,” says Hannah Bauman ’13, a schoolteacher in Alabama. “I just felt like as soon as I was able to give back and provide this opportunity, I should.” Many of the hosts have a similar attitude of paying it forward. “I believe that it is the responsibility for people of my generation to provide opportunities and learning experiences for the up and coming generation,” says Carter Newton ’77, publisher of the Galena Gazette in Illinois. “I have benefited in many ways from those who came before me. What I can do is repay their generosity by paying it forward.”

The Grinnell students aren’t the only ones who benefit from this experience. Bauman’s class learned a great deal from extern Ibuki Ogasawara ’17, who shared his experience as an international student. “You’re going to get students who will ask you really good questions about why we do what we do,” says Jones. “If you’ve been in your profession for a while, you get to see it in a new light.”

If you are interested in hosting an extern, email Christie Mohlke at the Center for Careers, Life, and Service.