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FEATURES
Internships
BSC internships give students practical work experience while they learn. “The idea is to provide students with direct
experience in a work setting—usually related to their career interests—and to give them the benefit of supervision and
coaching from professionals in the field,” the AAC&U writes. In a January course, history students tackled archival and
preservation projects at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, Vulcan Park, and other facilities around Birmingham;
business students spend a semester working at banks, investment firms, start-ups, and more; and a small group of
students are working on campus to collect and showcase BSC student and faculty research.
Service learning
Hands-on experiences with community partners are built into
academic courses, giving students the opportunity to apply what
they are learning in real-world settings. “These programs model the
idea that giving something back to the community is an important
college outcome, and that working with community partners is good
preparation for citizenship, work, and life,” the AAC&U writes. For
example, students in a business administration class on nonprofit
and arts marketing worked with the Birmingham Museum of Art
to design a marketing strategy to reach college students; students
in a Leadership Studies practicum conducted in-person surveys
in the city’s Avondale neighborhood to tackle issues surrounding
gentrification; and students in an English seminar reading about
gender, race, and class were required to volunteer in the community
and to address those issues head-on.