Lesson Overview

The ESP degree includes a study abroad or internship requirement. There are many options available to students that do not require you to leave your job or family for an extended amount of time. This lesson will hopefully distill the myths and ease your anxieties around this requirement.

What will we learn?

By the end of this Lesson, you should be able to:

• understand the degree requirements regarding study abroad/internship;
• know what options are available to you;
• know who to contact to discuss your options;
• how to complete the Study Abroad/Internship Prior Learning Experience Questionnaire

What will be due?

Refer to the Activities page for more information on the assessments for this lesson.

Questions?

If you have any questions, please post to the Canvas Discussion Forum called "Questions" or e-mail the instructor (if the question is personal in nature).

Degree requirements

Both the ESPBA and the ESPBS degrees require that you complete 3 credits of study abroad or internship. Let me repeat that...study abroad OR internship. You need not do both.

Please don't stress - we know that many of you have jobs, kids, and probably a mortgage too! When you're thinking of your options regarding the study abroad/internship requirement, we want you to think outside of the box. What I mean by that is, don't think that you have to find a "traditional" study abroad/internship opportunity. You can fulfill this degree requirement in many different ways! We have had students be very creative and find wonderful solutions to meeting the degree requirements while not giving up their jobs or their entire summers!

The options available will be outlined in the following pages. But here are the cliff notes regarding this requirement:

• ESP students are required to complete one OR the other - a study abroad or internship
• Your study abroad/internship experience can look very different than "traditional" study abroad/internship experiences
• It does not need to be completed in the summer semester, again, think outside of the box!
• If you have lived abroad or have completed an internship in the past, you may be eligible to apply for a waiver for this requirement
• To discuss available opportunities, contact me [1], Haley Sankey, I am the ESP study abroad/internship administrator

Internship Info

We know that as adult students, the idea of an internship may be daunting! But don't fret. You can fulfill this option by finding something that suits your location, your schedule, and your life! Completing an internship as an adult student probably will look a bit different than you think: your internship does not have to happen over the summer, in your senior year, or even during traditional hours.

Internship requirements

1. The internship must be very strongly related to energy, sustainability and/or policy.
2. The internship must provide 120 hours of service within one semester.
3. You will need an internship "sponsor" willing to vouch for the internship job description, communicate with the instructor, and provide periodic review of your work.

Examples of prior internships

We have had students fulfill this degree requirement in the following ways:

• Worked one day a week in an internship position
• Interned in a different department at their current company in a position that is relevant to ESP (however this could work: one day a week, or maybe full time for just a few weeks, etc)
• Interned on nights/weekends
• Interned from a distance (many virtual or online internships can be found or even negotiated if the right circumstances exist)
• Created their own project and found partners and sponsors who were willing to work with them/support their project

Not all internships are applicable; you will need to contact me [2] to review the job description/proposed project for approval of rigor and applicability.

Feel free to visit the internship course website [3] in order to learn more about the internship requirements and the course expectations.

How to find an internship

Finding an internship may be easier than you think. Keep your eyes and ears open and spread the word that you're looking for an opportunity. If there's a company or organization nearby that you'd like to work for, contact them and let them know that you're interested in an internship; just because they haven't posted anything doesn't mean that they don't need your help! Look within your own company for opportunities as well. Perhaps another department or division could use someone with your education and expertise!

Finding and securing an internship is each student's responsibility, but there are a few resources available to help:

ESP Program Office Website

The Internship Information [4] page lists a few websites you may want to investigate as a starting point!

Job and internship information is included in the weekly ESP digest that is emailed to you (typically on Fridays).

You can also visit the "Job Planning and Opportunities [5]" page for some links to organizations that may be offering jobs or internships.

World Campus Career Services

World Campus Career Services office may be able to assist you in finding an internship. Visit the Career Services website [6] to learn more!

World Campus Virtual Internships

World Campus has partnered with employers to offer virtual internships. You can learn more about those opportunities by visiting the Virtual Career Development and Internship Program webpage [7].

Study Abroad Options

Want to spend the summer in Spain? Don't we all! While that is certainly an option, it is not at all necessary!

If you choose to fulfill the study abroad/internship option by traveling, great! There are a ton of experiences you can do that won't take you out of your life for an extended amount of time.

Embedded options

Several courses offer what is called "embedded travel" experiences. These are courses that are offered online with an embedded travel component at some point in the semester (typically spring or fall break). Often the travel portion of the course is only one week in length, and then students return home to continue the coursework online.

ESP instructor, Dan Kasper, leads an online course and study abroad opportunity that is a perfect fit for ESP students. Dan also teaches at Delaware Technical Community College in Delaware, where he serves as the International Education Coordinator. There he developed NRG 154, an online Renewable Energy course at Delaware Tech, which after completed is followed up with a 12+ day trip to Switzerland. The course itself is a great supplement to your ESP education, as you will learn about renewable energy technologies including solar PV, wind, hydroelectric, and biomass. You will also cover energy policy and energy efficiency, as well as carbon footprint considerations and calculations. The Penn State students that have completed the course and travel experience in the past have found both to enhance the education they have received in the ESP Program.

Dan blogged about the trip in 2015 [8] here, and a student from the 2016 course kept a blog [9] also. Both will give you a very good idea of what the travel portion of the course entails.

The trip includes 3 different locations: Lucerne (a small medieval-era city near the Alps), Interlaken (a small town tucked into the Alps), and Zurich (Switzerland's largest city).

Penn State Brandywine

Penn State Brandywine regularly offers Gen Ed courses that contain this type of embedded travel experience. Enrolling in a Gen Ed that also has a travel component will fulfill two of your degree requirements at once! For example, in Spring 2019, a course called CIVCM 211N Foundations: Civic and Community Engagement is offered. If you were to enroll in the course and successfully complete the associated coursework, including the travel, you would fulfill both a Gen Ed requirement (GH, GS, US, IL) and the ESP study abroad/internship requirement. You can learn more about what's offered here [10].

[11]

Screenshot of Penn State Brandywine website about an study abroad program in Puerto Rico

Credit: © Penn State University is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 [12]

Other embedded options

You can find more courses that offer an embedded travel component by visiting the Penn State Global Programs Office website and entering your search parameters on the Programs Search [13] page. Just be sure to clarify that the coursework before/after the trip is offered online! 

The GREEN Program

Haley Sankey stands in front of a waterfall in Iceland in February of 2014 and Haley with the GREEN Program

Credit: Haley Sankey © Penn State University is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 [12]

We have had a few students travel with The Global Renewable Energy Education Network (GREEN) [14] Program, otherwise known as TGP. TGP is a great fit for ESP students because their travel education programs focus on issues related to energy, sustainability, and policy. TGP is constantly opening up new and exciting opportunities in new places that have unique energy and sustainability opportunities or challenges. Right now they offer trips to:

• Iceland
• Peru

Each trip is 8-10 days in length and is intensely focused on learning about the culture and surroundings as well as energy and sustainability. I, personally have attended the Iceland and the Peru programs, and can say without a doubt that both experiences were supremely educational and very fun! They do a great job of mixing up 50 hours of educational programming with adventurous activities such as hiking, zip lining, white water rafting, snorkeling, 4x4 excursions, etc.

A TGP program is not credit-bearing. So, if you choose to pursue a TGP experience, you will also need to enroll in EGEE 299 and complete the associated assignments in order to earn credit for your travel. So, in short, a TGP trip, while amazing is less of a "value" than one of the embedded type of experiences discussed previously.

Other study abroad options

Screenshot of Penn State's Global Penn State website

Credit: Global Penn State © Penn State University is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 [12]

We recognize that you're all different, and maybe there are some of you that have the ability and desire to study away for an entire semester! If that's the case, great! Penn State Global Programs offer a host of amazing opportunities all over the world. We have had students that were able, study entire semesters in Costa Rica, Germany, etc. If you find a program that you're interested in, but you aren't sure how that would work with your ESP degree requirements, please reach out to your adviser or me (hjs142@psu.edu [15]) so that we can help you get things figured out!

Funding options

Each program is different, so varying scholarships may be available based on exactly what type of experience you choose. However, the Penn State Student Engagement Network [16] provides grants for students that embark on any type of "engagement experience". Meaning any out of the classroom educational experience can qualify you for a grant (e.g. research, study abroad, internship, study away, etc)

The grant monies can be used to pay for the experience itself, or to help cover other expenses incurred as a result of the commitment. For example, you could apply for funds to cover the tuition for the GREEN Program, or for the flight to get to Iceland or Peru for the GREEN Program. It could also be used for child care or housing costs if you need to stay away from home (even if it's for an entire semester!) You could also apply for lost wages, if you end up taking time from work to participate in an unpaid internship.

The goal of the grant program is to remove barriers that prevent students from taking part in out of the classroom learning opportunities. If you choose to apply, be sure to put ample time and effort into the application, as it is highly competitive and open to every Penn State student. Watch the ESP weekly digest email for notifications of when the applications are open!

Waive application

You may have prior learning experience that could fulfill the internship/study abroad requirement. However, just having the experience isn't enough to have the requirement waived, you will have to submit a waive application proving that the learning you experienced is comparable to what you would have encountered had you completed a study abroad or internship program in conjunction with the associated course (EGEE 495 or EGEE 299). Once you submit an application, it will be evaluated by the ESP faculty board.

For this week's assignment, you will be asked to fill out a questionnaire that will provide us with information regarding your eligibility to have the requirement waived. If you are approved to apply for a waive, you will be provided with directions on how to complete the waive application process.

Keep in mind, you cannot apply to have the requirement waived without first communicating with me and your adviser about your intentions.

Specific waive application directions will be provided to each individual that qualifies, however, a general overview of the process looks like this:

General overview of the process for completion of the waive application

Click here to see a text description.

1. Student completes the questionnaire
2. Questionnaire responses are evaluated by ESP faculty
3. If experience warrants, the student is invited to submit an application to have the internship/study abroad requirement waived. (Specific directions on waive application contents are provided at this point.) \Student communicates with their adviser to ensure the 3 credits are not needed to reach the 120 cr degree requirement.
4. Student communicates with their adviser to ensure the 3 credits are not needed to reach the 120 cr degree requirement.
5. Student works with Maria Scalzo Wherley, our in house writing tutor, to create a strong application.
6. Student completes all portions of the application
7. Student submits a completed waive application through Canvas. Applications must be submitted before the end of the semester, the semester before graduation (e.g. if graduation is intended for FA20, completed applications must be submitted by the end of SU20 semester.)
8. The application packet is reviewed by a board of ESP faculty for approval.

Credit: © Penn State University is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 [12]

Summary

In summary, please don't be intimidated by this requirement. You can complete a study abroad experience or an internship at any time while you're working towards your ESP degree!

Helpful tips for securing an internship:

• Start searching early! Get the word out that you're looking for an opportunity.
• Search the websites of organizations you're interested in. If there are no internships listed, that doesn't mean that there aren't opportunities available. Contact the HR department or someone that you know that works there!
• Read the ESP weekly digest that is emailed to your PSU email address every Friday!
• Utilize the resources outlined in this lesson to broaden your search
• Open your mind, think outside the box! Not all internships have to be full time, 9-5, during the summer! And not all study away opportunities have to be crazy expensive and an entire semester long!