2014 2015 eStem Public Service Internship Program

Mid-Year Summary and Assessment

Snapshot :
Dates served: 7/30/14 5/15/14
Number Served: 16
Total Number of Internship Sites: 11
Gender: Male 19% Female 81%

Program Overview
The Pulaski County Youth Services (PCYS) eStem Public Service Internship Program
was started as a pilot program in 2013. This program was started at the request of
previous Pulaski County Youth Service Public Service Program Interns who
approached PCYS staff following their excellent internship experience during the
previous summer. They enjoyed their six-week summer internship so much that
they wanted to take the program back to their school and give other students the
experience. PCYS staff met with Louisa Rook and other eStem Public Charter School
staff to develop a partnership with eStem and the EAST Initiative. The pilot-year of
the program was from August of 2013 through May of 2014.
PCYS has committed to the following:

To provide weekly career development workshops on Thursday afternoons for

the entire program period.
To provide workshop topics that are relevant to the participants professional
and personal development.
To assist students in securing internships when necessary.
To track volunteer hours and collect data on each students experience.
To administer pre-, mid-, and post-program evaluation data for the purpose of
writing a thorough assessment of each years program.
To assist students in registering for the Presidential Service Award and make
those awards following the program each year.

The mission of this program is to form a coalition of youth volunteer interns to serve
Pulaski County, assist local community organizations, non-profits, and government
agencies in serving the community, and expose Pulaski County youth to a life of
service. This internship program is an unpaid, volunteer program designed to help
students gain knowledge, skills, and exposure to encourage a lifetime of service to
Pulaski County. By placing students in internships in private sector, non-profit,
volunteer, and government work, youth will learn valuable lessons about leadership,

community service, public service, and how to work effectively with individuals and
organizations to build healthy communities.
Students will serve volunteer hours to achieve the following levels for the
Presidential Service Award:

Bronze 100 to 174 hours

Silver 175 to 249
Gold 500 hours or more
Presidents Call to Service Award 4,000 or more hours

Students enrolled in this program are allowed to submit volunteer hours that they
have served in other organizations over the past 12 months or over their course of
their lifetime. Upon completion of the Presidential Volunteer Service Internship
Program, students will be awarded the presidential service award in a special
ceremony.

Career Development Workshop Topics Covered To-Date:

Vision Planning
Office Skills (email, phone, first impressions)
Goals and Objectives (S.M.A.R.T. Model)
Program Planning
Public Service
Communication Skills
Grant Writing
Relationships with Parents and Families
Conflict Resolution
Personal Growth

Workshops

Democratic Party of Arkansas

The Boys and Girls Club
Advanced Physical Therapy
Markham Group
eStem Public Charter School
Arkansas Innovation Hub
Baptist Health
Hearts and Hooves
Pulaski County Youth Services
Arkansas Business Publishing Group
Arkansas Childrens Hospital Molecular Genetics and Pathology Lab
Arkansas Department of Education, Research, and Development
Markham Group

Pulaski County Youth Services

eStem Public Charter School/Noble Impact Program
The Republican Party of Arkansas

Total hours received to date: 1,702.50

PCYS is working diligently during the month of December to obtain all outstanding
volunteer hours and will update this total at a later date. There are a few students
who have not turned in all of their volunteer hours.

Evaluation Highlights
At each weekly career development workshop, students are required to submit a
weekly hours log that includes any highlights and issues/concerns from that week.

Comments about the internship experience:

I love everyone at my internship, as well as everything we do.

I am really ready for this internship to be over. Im tired of politics and adds
[sic} and I want the election over.
I like the positive environment.
I like best about my internshipgetting to learn about what I like
psychology.
I want to work in scientific research when older, so this is just solidifying that
plus itll also give me a leg up in college.
A lady that started off PT in a wheel chair is walking!!!
I think I keep surprising people with how fast and well I work.
All I do is paperwork.

Accomplishments:

designed t-shirts and working with students for liberty club at school.
I started 3-D printing cookie cutters. I helped at our version of a TED talk
about drones; I got to demonstrate my flying skills and it was amazing. I
began planning w/ Central Arkansas Astronomical Society, ARHUB, and my
school for the science clubplanning robotic boxes for school programs
On Tuesday, at Baptist Health, I hooked up a patient after a heart transplant
to a heart monitor.
able to complete a phone interview
I got to write a mini-article for the magazine
Getting highschoolers [sic] for my program this week on the
announcements! Interesting meeting today! Surprising turnout
Ran PCR by myself for the first time! Im actually doing lab stuff
sequenced DNA. (PCR is a DNA sequence)
I got to use a scantron machine and it was AWESOME.

I got tweeted about by the CEO of the whole thing, VP of Axciom, the
FASTERArkansas, and met with the Board of Education. I was able to
communicate with a President of an important newspaper company, Jeff
Jeffus
Helped coordinated a tailgating event.
My student is improving.

Issues and concerns raised by students:

I occasionally dont have anything to do.

I would like to become more involved in public service within the
community.
A little frustrating that they rely on me to do (finish) their important stud
when I have other priority [sic].
Stopping at Baptist completely. Its too out of the way
I need to find a training program for tutors.
Theres some professional drama involving the lab across the hall.

Observations:
#1 In general, this years program is going very well. The change from monthly
(2013-2014) to weekly meetings this year makes it easier for the students to keep
the program as a part of their weekly routine.
Recommendation: Maintain the currently weekly meeting schedule
#2 There are some students in the program that are working internships that are
not directly related to their future career interests.
Recommendation: Assist students in finding new internships for the second
semester if they are open to the opportunity. Last years program illustrated the
students who interned in the profession they hope to have in the future obtained
real-life experiences that helped them to make decisions for their college
professional goals and objectives.

Closing
The 2014-2015 program is going very well and we have grown a lot as a program.
The students are enjoying the meetings and their internships. Mid-year surveys and
student evaluations (by their supervisors) are to be completed and submitted by the
first day back after Christmas break. This will help us to better assess the
experience and get valuable feedback from their supervisors. This information will
be included in an assessment at a later date.

It is the hope of program staff, that students can participate in a team-building

activity in the second semester of this program to help them to grow as a team and
challenge themselves to more personal growth.
There are no other significant observations and recommendations at this time.