The Starr Center funds over 30 paid student internships and positions each semester
with the mission of providing students with experiential and integrated learning opportunities
that bolster both academic experiences and professional development. The internship
program seeks to offer students a clear and tangible pathway toward advancement outside
the class room, providing opportunities and incentives for students to participate
in skills-training, professional development, and leadership activities.
During the summer, students have opportunities through our Explore America Summer Internship program to work at some of the nation’s leading cultural institutions. Past locations have included five different Smithsonian museums, the National Aquarium,
the Library of Congress, the Apollo Theater, the Human Rights Campaign, the U.S. House
of Representatives, and many others. In addition to providing paid jobs (up to $5,000
summer stipends) and valuable experience, Explore America Internships introduces students
to mentors who sometimes change the course of their lives.
Student internships cover a broad range of disciplines including archiving, oral history,
digitization, exhibition curation, videography, photography, journalism, communications,
website development, and sound engineering. Students from all majors engage in internships
with the Starr Center; from history to chemistry, business to English, the Center
offers a variety of opportunities to all Washington College students.
Working with Community Historians Airlee Johnson and Carolyn Brooks, intern(s) will
help build an oral history project focused on the African American experience in Kent
County. Interns will work together with African American residents in Kent County
to record remote oral history interviews and process the materials for archival purposes.
Interns will also select and interpret audio excerpts from the interviews pairing
them with written reflections and images to highlight on our website’s “Featured Collections” page.
Working with the Starr Center’s Digital Historian & Archivist, Jasmyn Castro, students
will digitize and catalogue photographs, film, and written documents related to African
American history and culture in Kent County; safely handle and store archived files;
and capture important information related to the materials for better understanding
and interpretation in the future. Interns might also develop written reflections on
these digitized materials to highlight on our website’s "Featured Collections" page.
Interns will work to better document the African American experience on Washington
College’s campus across the 20th and 21st centuries. This will include recording oral history interviews with African American
alumni from Washington College and creating a digital exhibit to highlight articles
from the Washington College Elm documenting the African American experience
Interns will process and archive previously recorded oral history interviews conducted
with participants who have memories of the WWII American Home Front.
Working in collaboration with the Starr Center and Mid-Shore Pro Bono, this intern
will provide administrative support to a busy non-profit legal services provider.
Applicants must be highly fluent in Spanish and develop a presentation on their professional
experience at the end of the semester.
Working with the Starr Center Director, Members of this team will identify “treasures”
of Kent County’s African American history, specifically documents and artifacts —
especially from the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries — that speak eloquently to the
broader past and present. Team members will conduct their own research and work with
members of the broader community to tease out the stories embedded in these treasures, sharing them online with the public as part of Chesapeake Heartland: An African American Humanities Project.
