Student case studies

Case study #1

A concerned father phoned the Dean of Students Office sharing that his daughter had neither answered nor returned any of his calls in over a week, a distinct departure from their usual pattern. The last time he spoke with his daughter she was excited for her semester internship. But her recent change in behavior was worrisome and he asked for the school’s help.

A representative from the Dean of Students Office consulted with the faculty supervisor and the campus internship coordinator before making the call to the host site supervisor. The student was turning in her weekly reaction essays on time so her faculty member was not concerned.

Using the host site contact information found in ELI, the Dean of Students’ representative phoned the student’s site supervisor explaining their reason for the call.

The site supervisor indicated the student seemed fine. In fact, she was excelling in her internship at the Social Service agency so quickly she was already conducting in-take appointments well ahead of schedule.

During the call with the Dean of Students Office, the host site supervisor flagged the student in the hallway. The student cheerfully said she was sorry to cause concern but in her excitement with work at her site, she had forgotten to call her dad. She was on her way to her next client appointment. It would help if they could relay to her father that she would call him that evening. She had found her calling in Social Work and loved what she was doing every day.

Case study #2

With dangerous wildfires in California, the career center internship coordinator accessed ELI to see if any of their student interns were in the vicinity of fires. It was at the end of summer just as some interns were returning home for a brief respite before classes started for the Fall. Yet, many interns were still with their host sites.  

The internship coordinator turned to ELI for site location information and internship start and end dates.

One intern was scheduled in the vicinity of one of the fire-ridden counties. He was to have left his internship only a few days prior. Making certain the student was out of harm’s way, the career center staff member contacted the student’s faculty supervisor. They verified the student was safely back on campus putting the last touches to their final project in time for their final grade to be reported. All was well.

Case study #3

Reporting by location in ELI, one career center internship coordinator, the Dean of Students, and 12 faculty supervisors compared notes with a category 4 hurricane that was heading for the Florida coastline. Their campus had 12 students interning in the direct pathway of the storm with over 25 total interns in Florida.

Together, they created their communication plan to ensure each one of the Florida interns was contacted for their plans for safety during the storm. Several students asked to return to their home campus until the storm passed.

Several other students, who were working in hospitals and other emergency responder sites, opted to stay with their internships. Their host site supervisors encouraged them to remain on duty for them to benefit from the strong learning hurricane experiences can provide. The students stayed and reported positive career-shaping experiences of a lifetime.

Case study #4

A site supervisor’s behavior had become threatening to their current intern. The environment was not conducive to learning and the student was immediately removed from the site by the academic department. The faculty supervisor consulted with the career center internship coordinator and both agreed it was a situation best brought to the attention of the school’s office of general counsel.

Acknowledging that the host site supervisor’s behavior was reprehensible, legal counsel asked probing questions: 1) Were any other of the school’s interns assigned to the same site for this term? 2) Were any of the school’s interns considering this site for future terms?

The career center internship counselor quickly ran a report from ELI. The results were informative. Only one intern was there for Spring. However, several additional records were in ELI’s approval queue for the coming Summer.

Legal counsel communicated with the other academic departments to have their students gently and confidentially redirected to other internship options for their Summer experiences.