Southwestern University - Souwester Yearbook (Georgetown, TX)

Page 31 text:

The Social and Academic Internship programs have been a vital and growing part of many students ' educational experience. Just this year in January, a new academic internship was added — the Texas Politics Internship at the State Capitol, coordinated by Dr. Suk-soon Suh (Chairman, Political Science Dept.) and State Representative Dave Albred (D.-Wichita Falls). The internship concept is one which seeks to unite the classroom learning with practical experience outside the University. Many types of internships are available in particular areas such as psychology, sociology, history, and political science. Students find that experiential gaps between theory and reality are often bridged through one of these internships. Past internships include riding with the Austin police, working with a welfare breakfast program, probational work in cities around the state, working for prison reform by offering various courses of study, working at the Austin State Hospital, and numerous other experiences. Each internship is constructed differently to suit the course. As the Texas Politics internship was structured, eight students drove to the Statehouse each Tuesday-Thursday and attended a lecture by a different speaker from 1:00-2:30. Their first session was spent with Gov. Dolph Briscoe. They also briefly met Attorney General John Hill. Many other notables met and talked with the group in free-wheeling question-and- answer sessions. At 2:30, each student went to his or her own internship, his or her place of temporary employment. Paula Kelley and Steve Cotton worked in Senator Lloyd Bentsen ' s central office and campaign office. Winn Parker worked for Common Cause and Davida Hopkins worked in Rep. Albred ' s office as a researcher, to offer a few examples. The internship experience is a vital one for those who seek to apply their academic and social skills acquired at Southwestern to the laboratory of life. r

Page 33 text:

Austin State School Welcomes Psychology Students To Reality Innumerable critics of education have said many times that college is all theory and no practice; that education likes to stay in an ivory tower of sorts, and let reality come crashing down two weeks after graduation. Without a doubt this is true in many cases, but it stops at the Austin State Hospital. Such that, the real world gets a few kicks in a year before graduation. The psychology intership at the hospital usually lasts all of the spring semester of a senior ' s year, but it only takes about a week before a senior is quite sure that the seemingly endless hours of books are not quite so bad after all. A day begins about 6:00 in the morning, which is not so bad except that bedtime was about 1:00. Then comes the thirty minute drive into Austin, and about the time that your body has decided that sleeping in a sitting position is not so bad, you are there. Where you go from this rude awakening is up to you. There are hyperactive children to follow, autistic children to hold, beaten children to comfort, adults defeated by a too complex world to be wakened, adults with illnesses that nobody really understands to give companionship to, and the ever present rumblings in the back of your mind that says that none of these people are really that different from you. The frustration, anger, sadness, hope, and exhaustion are all overshadowed by only two potential things. First, there is always that flicker of joy when someone moves and changes. Second, is the knowledge that everyone here is a person no different from yourself. Generally, it takes about a week at the hospital before books and papers begin to look appealing again, but it takes closer to twelve weeks for even the most sensitive person to begin to appreciate the little joys, the little surprise, and the joy of being able to go from place to place everyday, without having to be cleared or given a day. When the little things begin to matter and you finally believe that there is nothing wrong with crying, you have started. Welcome to reality. Jim Ferris