The Honors College Career Development Award is awarded to students who intend to participate in a summer career-related internship opportunity, and who need financial assistance in order to accept an offer for an internship. Applicants must be current UVM Honors College students. Two awards of up to $3,500 each will be awarded at the beginning of the summer. Applicants will be notified about the award by April.
Student Eligibility
Only first-year students, sophomores, and juniors in the Honors College are eligible to apply. To be eligible to receive the award, Honors College students also must follow all application policies and procedures outlined by UVM's Career Center.
Application Timeline and Deadline
When applying for internship funding, Honors College students will be considered for the Career Development Award as well as any other internship awards they are eligible for. All awards listed on UVM's Internship Funding page have the same essays, same application process, and same deadline.
Note that the Career Development Award may require that students participate in an interview with the Honors College leadership.
Application Deadline: 11:59pm on March 19th, 2020.
Selection Criteria & Selection Process
The purpose of this scholarship is to 1) Assist students with obtaining experience relating to career and professional development, and 2) Promote career and professional development opportunities for students in the Honors College. Because of this, scholarship decisions are not solely made on the basis of previous experience or GPA. Rather, award decisions are based on:
- Professional sense of purpose: Selection committee members will evaluate the benefits a student will gain from the internship, and how the internship aligns with a student's career/professional goals.
- Academic trajectory: Selection committee members will evaluate a student's academic experience as well as how their current academic trajectory will be enhanced through the proposed internship(s). Committee members will look for coursework and research experience relevant to the proposed internship, as well as how the professional experience fits in with a student's intellectual pursuits in the Honors College.
- Financial need: Selection committee members will expect students to articulate why they need financial support in order to pursue an internship, as well as how financial support to do the proposed internship better enables them to meet their goals for their internship experience.
Once an award offer is made, students will have up to two weeks to confirm that they have received an internship offer from their employer.
Scholarship Recipient Obligations
The following items will be required from scholarship recipients at the end of the internship experience:
- A two page, double-spaced summary answering the following questions: How did this internship help you grow personally and professionally? How did this internship opportunity affect your career goals? Did it help you explore options, gain skills, or refine a plan as it relates to your career?
- Materials from an awardee's internship experience that they affirm may be shared with other UVM students (photos, videos, other stories that may be put on the Honors College website or social media sites).
Application Submission Instructions
Submitting the primary application materials
All primary application materials and submission instructions are available on UVM's Internships Funding website:
go.uvm.edu/internfund
If you have questions about submitting your primary application materials, please come to Drop In Hours at the Career + Experience Hub, attend an information session (log into Handshake to view available information sessions), or contact Amanda Chase at 802-656-3450.
Alternative Plans
It is important to make alternative plans. The Honors College Career Development Award is a competitive award, and not everyone can receive award money. Students should make an appointment at the Career Center if additional assistance is needed to make alternative summer plans.
Over the summer Meghan Letizia ’19 spent eight weeks interning for N Street Village, a nonprofit organization that empowers and supports low-income and homeless women in Washington, D.C. “As a social work student who has spent a great deal of time delving into the theoretical side of social work, this was some of my first exposure to real direct social work,” Letizia said. “Spending each day with the women I worked with and forming relationships with them all was a truly remarkable experience that could have never been replicated in the classroom setting.”
“By allowing myself to take risks, to connect with these women, and to be myself around them, I formed remarkable relationships founded on mutual trust, respect, vulnerability, and compassion. I committed myself to the mantra of meeting people where they are at, and I fully embodied this in the way I carried myself at work. I dressed casually, I ate meals with the women from the cafeteria, and I allowed myself to simply exist with them…They are the experts on their own experiences, and I was there to listen, to support, and to empower whenever possible.”
“Working with women has emerged as my utmost passion within social work, and this summer truly emphasized how meaningful this work is to me, as well as how attuned I am to this field. I learned a great deal from colleagues, from experiences, and above all—from the women themselves. I learned about the nuances of experiencing homelessness, the simple joy in doing newspaper crosswords, how to play rummy, and the sheer power and strength of a community of women uplifting one another.”