SERVING              those in need                  through internship work

About Internships | Partner Organizations | Positions & Projects
Available Opportunities | How do interns help the local people?

Students earn four credits working on a wide variety of internship projects within established partner organizations in the Puerto Escondido area.  

About Internships

Internships allow students to apply and enhance their academic knowledge and professional skills, build their resumes, and explore vocation, while also helping partner organizations improve and expand their efforts to meet human needs. These goals are accomplished through the following:

Project Assignments
Each student is assigned to work on a specific internship project within one of the program's partner organizations. Projects are assigned according to students' academic backgrounds and professional interests, as well as the needs of partner organizations.

Preparation
In order to make the most effective use of their time in Mexico, interns begin preparing for their projects during the Spring Semester class prior to the trip. They conduct research, gather materials, set goals for themselves, and formulate plans to reach those goals.

Work
In Mexico, interns quickly learn the value of professionalism, self-motivation, and adaptability. Latin American work environments are often very laid-back compared to American standards, and unexpected set-backs and challenges are an inevitable reality of development work. Like any other employees, interns must take initiative to build and maintain relationships with their supervisors, working with them to set and evaluate goals, arrange schedules, and accomplish tasks. Day-to-day activities vary according to individual internship positions and projects.

Professional Asset-Building
Internships help students set themselves apart from other job candidates by building valuable resume experience and professional skills. Communication skills, in particular, are a critical part of the program, just as they are in the "real" work world. Students not only practice setting, evaluating, and pursuing goals, they also gain experience in articulating their efforts orally and in writing. They hone specific career skills through project work, and build their professional portfolios by developing samples of their work in Puerto. For example, past interns have returned with research reports, proposals, lesson plans, and marketing materials which they produced themselves.

Available Internship Opportunities

Internships are available in a wide variety of fields, and opportunities are ever-expanding. Contact Program Director Robin Klay or visit the "Current Trip Updates" page for information on this year's projects. To see examples of past internship projects, click on Positions & Projects.

How do interns help the people of the Puerto Escondido area?

Interns use their academic knowledge and professional skills to help partner organizations improve and expand their efforts to better the lives of the local people. Several factors make this arrangement uniquely effective:

• Partnerships with already-established organizations allow resources (i.e. interns) to connect immediately with specific needs. Instead of starting from scratch, "Hope Blooms" interns join leaders who have spent, in many cases, several years establishing themselves within the community, building vital relationships and assessing needs.

• Spanish competency (equivalent of 2 years college Spanish required) enables interns to work independently. Well-intentioned volunteers often cause organizations more work than they're worth when they require full-time translators in order to communicate with locals.

• By spending eight weeks in Mexico and preparing for projects during Spring Semester, interns are able to reach beyond the limitations of short-term mission trips. Partner organizations, admitting that the effectiveness of short-term volunteers is extremely limited, are especially enthusiastic about the idea of developing on-going relationships with Hope and being able to work with interns over a period of several months. By the same token, students are given enough time to become deeply involved in their projects and truly make an impact.

*See "positions & projects" for examples of specific ways in which
interns have helped to meet human needs in the Puerto area.*

Partner Organizations

About Hope's Partnerships  |  Current Partner Organizations

"We joined an organization and helped wherever help was needed... (We) all had huge impacts on those we were helping... It was a 'win-win' situation rather than a one-sided helping relationship."
      - Rachel Streelman ('06), Marketing Intern

About Hope's Partnerships

Through this program, Hope College seeks to build mutually-beneficial partnerships with local civic and mission organizations working to better the lives of people in and around Puerto Escondido.

Partner organizations fit the following criteria:

Match-Up of Skills and Needs. Partners have demonstrated the need for assistance of interns in some professional capacity that builds on and expands the intern’s knowledge and skills as well as those of the organization being served.

Ability to Collaborate. Partners are equipped with staff (paid or unpaid) who have adequate time, interest, and ability to supervise interns, without handicapping the ongoing work of the organization.

Support of Program Ideals. Partners understand and are willing to work with a program of Hope College, knowing what we stand for, i.e.:

• Internships of high academic quality;
• Inclusion of Christians from all parts of the church spectrum;
• Respect for persons whose beliefs are different from our own;
• Willingness to work side-by-side with all who are sincerely dedicated to serving the community of Puerto Escondido and beyond

Current Partner Organizations

Hope Blooms' list of partner organizations is always changing and growing from year to year, allowing for more internship possiblities.

Current partner organizations include:

Habitat Para La Humanidad Mexico
Habitat for Humanity Mexico is a Christian-based organization which helps poor families obtain adequate housing. Interns in a variety of fields are welcomed with open arms by the Puerto office and by Habitat host families. Interns truly enjoy working with supervisors Don Chano and Mago, as well as the many active community members and revered chapter founder Don Constancio. "Habitat is a community within a community. They help each other out and they help other out in the community. This is huge because they are taking a Mexican trait, I think, the trait of caring for other, and they have organized in into a powerful force."       - Travis Ransom ('08) ESL intern

Roca Blanca Mission Base
The Roca Blanca Mission Base, founded and run by American missionaries Duane and Sue Kershner, is dedicated to reaching out to poor indigenous communities outside of Puerto. The base includes a Bible School, a School of Worship, a Trade School, a Middle and High School, a health clinic, and a Prayer House. An occupational training program has also been developed.

Internship Positions & Projects

"Hope Blooms" offers internships in a wide variety of fields, and opportunities are ever expanding as more organizations express interest in becoming partners. Possibilities are evolving throughout the '07 - '08 school year, and once in Puerto Escondido. Staff make their best efforts to match a student's interests/majors with his or her internship site. Specific sites cannot be promised although arrangements do get more concrete as the Spring Semester evolves. (Unless you are doing this as a required internship for your major, the credits may be assigned in a variety of ways, including Spanish). Past internship projects fall under the categories of accounting/business, communication, education, teaching English as a second language, engineering, and marketing. See below for examples.

Accounting/Business Internship(s)

• Creating a computerized record-keeping system for the Habitat for Humanity office. (management/accounting/Spanish students)

"I really enjoyed working with Habitat and seeing all the lives they are touching with the houses they are building."
      - Elizabeth Shuter ('06), accounting intern for Habitat for Humanity

 

 

Communication Internship(s)

• Giving English lessons on the airwaves of radio station La Voz del Angel, fundraising for community needs, and conducting interviews with local townspeople. (communication student)

• Investigating local happenings, conducting interviews in Spanish, and taking pictures for El Sol de la Costa bilingual (Spanish/English) newspaper. (communication student)

• Researching potential funding, grant writing and assisting the director of a youth soccer ministry. (management student)

Education Internship(s)

• Teaching third grade at a Christian elementary school. (elementary education student)

"Although (teaching in Mexico) was difficult at times, it was also incredibly rewarding... I've gotten so much experience in front of a classroom, and it has taught me an incredible amount about myself, children, and teaching in general."
      - Katie Kiel ('07), education intern for Colegio Alfa

 

• Researching alternative building materials for Habitat for Humanity homes. (engineering student)

"Being a female engineer in Mexico was not common. It was amazing to see the people begin to respect me as an engineer and then encourage me to keep working at it."
      - Rachel Bakken ('09), engineering intern
for Habitat for Humanity.

ESL Teaching Internship(s)

• Teaching English as a Second Language in elementary schools in various towns: Cozoaltepec, Bajos de Chila, Zipolite, Puerto Angel and Chacalapa. (phychology, social work, international studies, science and communication students)
  
  "I am so glad that I got to teach kids. They were so full of energy and curiosity and their spirit kept me motivated."
        - Aaron Green, ('08) Cozoaltepec ESL Intern

• Teaching English as a Second Language for adults at a vocational training center and for children through after-school classes held at a local middle school. (communication/management/Spanish students)

"Never have I seen so many kids lined up around the building straining to listen and learn English on their recess break...Our classroom was under a pavilion with open chain-link fencing for walls, so that kids were completely surrounding the classroom, hanging on the fence and on tip-toes to see over the child in front of them. Wow. These kids have so much hunger for learning, it's so great."”
      - Sara Webster, ('09) Cozoaltepec ESL Intern

Marketing Internship(s)

• Conducting demographic research for a new water filter project by visiting various homes and interviewing families about their water sources and needs. Hosted by Habitat for Humanity. (management/Spanish student)

• Developed a new promotional brochure and a proposal of marketing and fundraising ideas for Habitat for Humanity. (management/Spanish students)

• Teaching a marketing and business course at a vocational training institute for young women. (management/psychology student)

"I loved (my internship), and I'll definitely be able to use these experiences in the future."
       - Rachel Streelman ('06), marketing intern for VDTI