A new partnership between the university and the local community is bringing students and employers together in meaningful ways.
Like many college students, Zillion Moe ’23 had trouble finding an internship during his junior year. With one opportunity after another failing to materialize, he turned to Elon’s Campus Alamance program, and was able to set up an internship with finance management firm Milestone Wealth Management.
A finance and entrepreneurship double major, Moe heard about Campus Alamance through Elon’s First-Generation Student Support Services. Intrigued by the variety of positions available and remembering wise words given to him that the objective of an internship is to gauge if you would enjoy that kind of work, he decided to apply.
Launched in 2021 under the stewardship of the Student Professional Development Center and the Kernodle Center for Civic Life, Campus Alamance partners with Alamance County leaders to create a symbiotic collaboration that supports Elon students and the community.
“Campus Alamance brings together ideas that students, faculty and staff shared during the development of the Boldly Elon strategic plan about the need to increase access to and financial support for internships as well as the need to be better and more connected partners with the local community,” says Jeff Stein, vice president for strategic initiatives and partnerships.
Through his Campus Alamance internship, Moe discovered he has a knack for data processing, a significant reason for his aspirations of becoming a financial analyst, while also recognizing a need to improve on communicating his findings. “The more proficient I grow, the more successful I will be and the more I will be like the person I aspire to become after Elon,” Moe says.
After completing the eight-week-long program, Moe felt closer to his career goals and had a better understanding of the local community. “The interactions I had with the community demonstrated all the different ‘campuses’ in Alamance that have their own culture and set of values,” he says.
Bursting the ‘Elon Bubble’
Students at college campuses across the country often become siloed and fail to engage with the wider community. At Elon, Campus Alamance gives students the opportunity to get out and experience the community that will be their home for the next four years.
“Campus Alamance has helped expand their horizons and their perspectives, not only for themselves and what they want to do long term, but also helping them to realize the opportunity and the possibilities that are right here around the Elon campus and pushing them outside of that Elon bubble,” says Robin Kazmarek, director of internships for Elon College, the College of Arts and Sciences.
Through a multipronged approach, the program addresses two of the most significant reasons why students forgo summer internships — lack of financial opportunity and access. The program offers participating students a $2,500 stipend, given by the university, and transportation to each employer partner.
“The key piece that really sets our program apart from initiatives at other campuses is the funding structure,” Kazmarek says. “It opens up a wide variety of partners that can participate because they don’t have to worry about the financial commitment piece.”
Getting involved in the community was Sarah Rusthoven’s chief motivation for signing up for the Campus Alamance program. As a member of the original cohort in 2021, the senior communication design major worked with Alamance Arts, getting invaluable experience in event planning and cultivating important community relationships.
Even the name of the program — Campus Alamance — was important to her because “it’s about making Alamance County your campus, your learning space,” she says, adding that to make a real impact, you must foster real connections outside of Elon and in the larger community. “It’s important to burst the ‘Elon bubble,’” Rusthoven says. “If I was doing a normal job on campus, I wouldn’t have been exposed to different things like that. Every Elon student should have an experience like this by the time they graduate.”
A Purposeful Internship
A s job markets grow more competitive and the requirements for entry-level jobs become more demanding, the need for an internship is more important than ever. Campus Alamance gives Elon students a chance to set themselves apart from the pack while also making a difference, and the students involved have not taken that for granted.
That has certainly been the case for human service studies major Hana Hawthorne ’23 through her involvement with Benevolence Farm, a fully functioning farm and residential program that seeks to support and advance individuals who have been impacted by the criminal justice system in North Carolina. She has long been interested in social justice work as she organized anti-racism protests in her Maryland hometown during the 2020 wave of civic unrest. Her work with the farm began through a human service studies class and has deepened with the Campus Alamance initiative. Her experience during the eight-week program has only fueled that fire within her to make a difference wherever she goes.
“I just want to help people. I feel like I was put here for a purpose and that is to help others who cannot help themselves, who don’t have voices,” Hawthorne says. “Activist work has been amazing because it showed me how strong as a community we are and how we can come together and support one another and share the same values.”
While uncertain of where her internship with Alamance Community College will lead her following graduation, Sophie Padalecki ’23 is appreciative of how it helped her explore a future in program planning. Her on-campus job with Campus Recreation and Wellness has given her experience in program planning, and through Campus Alamance, she could do so in a more meaningful way.
“I could’ve gotten a random job at a coffee shop, but I really like that this is hands-on with the Elon community, the Alamance community,” she says. “I like that everyone here is excited to work together, rather than just having a job, clocking in and clocking out.”
The Alamance Connection
The students aren’t the only beneficiaries of the Campus Alamance initiative. One of the intentions of the program, Kazmarek says, is to build a pipeline of talent for employers in the Alamance County area by leaning on Elon students. The fact that the program doubled in community partners and nearly tripled in student participation is no accident. It is a direct response from Alamance County employers seeking to get involved with talented Elon students before graduating and hoping to retain them in the area.
“We’ve definitely found a way to address an expressed desire of partners in the community,” Kazmarek says. “It’s meeting a broad need across the university, and we are super excited about being able to provide that opportunity for our students and employers.”
Frances Lee, human resource manager with GKN Driveline, said the mutual benefits of the Campus Alamance program are too good to pass up. “Somebody helped me along the way, so this is a way of giving back and helping students get to experience what real work is like,” Lee says. “I see it as a win-win for both parties.”
Feraud Calixte, founder and lead planner of Vantage Pointe Planning, said the program was as much of a learning experience for him as it was for the students. “We’re a startup firm and this was an opportunity to work with local talent and position us in terms of managing style, growth and give an opportunity to students to learn financial planning on a ground level and how to run a business,” he says.
This past summer, 39 students got hands-on experience through the program with 28 local employers — a significant increase from the inaugural cohort of 14 students and 13 community partners. Looking to increase student participation to anywhere from 50 to 75 next summer, Kazmarek says the SPDC and Kernodle Center are focused on growing Campus Alamance without diluting its integrity.
One piece of feedback employers gave on how to improve Campus Alamance was to extend the application process to give them a chance to shape the internship experience around the student’s capabilities, something they will do next summer. Kazmarek is pleased with the program’s success this year and looks forward to its continued growth as the collaborations with the community deepen going forward.
That partnership was the inspiration behind the program’s name. “The word ‘campus’ has multiple meanings. We are Elon University, and we have our campus here,” Kazmarek says, “but also looking at it from a broader lens and how the Alamance community is also a campus for engagement, learning and growth.”