Southwestern Magazine | Spring 2021

High-impact experiences are a key component of the Southwestern Experience , and students aren’t letting the COVID-19 pandemic prevent them from engaging in these immersive, life-changing opportunities. Through remote internships and community-engaged learning projects, students are still able to gain valuable skills and discover how to synthesize, interpret, and evaluate information from the world around them. Ultimately, they are advancing their educations, careers, and characters. In the summer of 2020, Sarah Johnson ’20, Megan Melo ’21, Mariana Quetzeri ’21, and Grace Sexton ’22 worked as community-engaged learning student associates at The Georgetown Project and Faith in Action Georgetown, two nonprofit organizations devoted to bettering the Georgetown community. The four students worked on a variety of projects, including developing a dashboard to make data more digestible and accessible, cleaning up client databases, creating flyers for events, and establishing a virtual filing system for media coverage. In the fall, Audrey Payton ’21 (pictured top right) and Noel Pratts ’21 (bottom right) completed remote internships with the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) Fiscal Monitoring Unit with funding support from SU’s Center for Career & Professional Development. Both students analyzed financial information submitted by grantees to identify areas of risk and usage trends, and Pratts also helped update the DSHS website and monitored its use. Payton notes that completing a remote internship helped her learn to adapt to new circumstances. “I can carry this skill throughout my life in different situations,” she reflects. LOW CONTACT, HIGH IMPACT STORY BY DEBBIE RITENOUR Photo by Carlos Barron Jr. '10. Photo provided by Audrey Payton '21. 2 4 | SOUTHWE S T E RN