This summer, I had the opportunity to work for two summer internships here at Wabash College. From late May to the end of June, I had the opportunity to work for the Stephenson Institute of Classical Liberalism for six weeks with Dr. Dan D’Amico, Violet Benge, and Phenix Carney ’25 to help conduct the inaugural summer seminar over classical liberalism. Over this six-week period, I learned how much teamwork, planning, communication, and coordination it takes to organize and conduct a seminar and allow for the sharing of ideas between students and educators. Phenix and I also were able to develop useful skills of researching information and later organizing that information into Microsoft Excel. These skills were developed as we worked to find the average cost of the seminar per person and when we helped to categorize readings that the Stephenson Institute will use in its library as it continues to educate individuals on the ideas of classical liberalism. Finally, Both Phenix and I were able to expand our knowledge of the fields of Political Science, Philosophy, and Economics helping both of us with our respective majors and future career paths.
My second internship opportunity would take place over four weeks beginning in early July and ending in early August with the Wabash Liberal Arts Immersion Program (WLAIP) as one of the four writing tutors alongside Anthony Donahue, Olivier Tuyishime, and Seth Acero. With the support of both Dr. Benedicks and Dr. Lamberton, we worked to assist a group of twenty-eight incoming freshmen as they completed English 101. We would sit in with the students during their class time to help model what students should behave like, while also participating in the group discussions had by the two classes. We would then assist them during a writing time in the Lilly Library on any assignments they had to help them to be successful, as well as giving them feedback on their writings to help them grow as writers. Helping with the WLAIP allowed me to give back to a program I was once involved and sharpen my skills as a writer as I learned how to give constructive feedback to students and help them develop their ideas into full papers. However, more importantly than that, working as part of the WLAIP team helped me to foster and develop relationships with the next generation of my Wabash brothers, and has allowed me to be a person they can go to to allow them to be as successful as possible at Wabash College.
