A 2016 NACE Center report on millennial hiring indicated that internships help 81.1 percent of graduates “shift their career directions either slightly or significantly.” At Acton, we place an emphasis on assisting young men and women to discover their vocational calling through internships. The holiday season may have just ended, but we already find ourselves anticipating the energy and enthusiasm that 18 young leaders will bring to the Acton office this summer. In addition, we have re-branded the Acton summer internship program to the Acton Emerging Leaders Program.
Program participants engage in professional development seminars, educational opportunities, networking events, and substantive work projects throughout their time at Acton. We strive to create a learning environment that equips participants with a better understanding of the principles that cultivate a freer, more virtuous society and God’s unique calling for their lives.
“The learned life,” C.S. Lewis once explained, “is then for some, a duty.” This is how Liz Yeh, a 2017 summer intern, describes her time at Acton:
At the beginning of the summer, one of the interns told me that the reason we study is because every single day we answer the life questions of the great philosophers, whether we realize it or not. It is our duty to be intentional in the way we live in every moment. I have never felt the serious and joyful weight of learning and engaging in tradition, culture, and the life of those around me. Interning at Acton has given me friends and mentors who push me to the Civitas Dei — people I am sure to know throughout my life.
This is exactly the type of impact we seek to make on student interns – that is to awaken them to a way of life or vocational calling that they did not know existed. Acton Institute’s Emerging Leaders Program is serving as a bulwark against the apathetic tendencies that have permeated higher education.
We are currently accepting applications for the 2018 Acton Emerging Leaders Program. If you or someone you know would like to participate in the Emerging Leaders Program, the application for the inaugural Emerging Leaders Program can be found here. If you would like to refer a student or friend to the program, you can fill out our referral form here.
For more information on the Acton Emerging Leaders Program, please visit our internship page or email [email protected].
