Three students in NC State’s College of Education had the opportunity to return to their communities this summer to work with K-12 students through the College of Education Summer Internship Program. 

Established in memory of Chantal Warfield, a May 2019 graduate who died in a car accident in October 2019, the competitive, five-week Summer Internship Program provides participating students with financial support to serve as an intern at an organization that supports education in a high-needs community.

Read about the internship experiences the participating students had in the pieces below. 

Calise Coleman

Calise Coleman, an elementary education major, spent her summer interning at the Robin Page Boys and Girls Club in Lillington, North Carolina. She worked with K-5 students to help prevent summer reading loss. 

During her internship, Coleman supported students’ literacy development through one-on-one reading sessions and small-group instruction as well as assisting students with what the club called “brain gain” activities, which included reading books, writing summaries and engaging with educational media. 

With the youngest participants, Coleman also focused on beginning literacy skills, including letter recognition and phonemic awareness. 

“As someone preparing for a career in education, I saw this as a valuable opportunity to practice what I’ve learned in my coursework and to begin forming the kinds of relationships I’ll need as a classroom teacher,” she said. “The focus on literacy development also aligned perfectly with my passion for early reading support.”

Building relationships as she worked closely with students in her community, Coleman said, was one of her favorite parts of her internship experience. She felt proud to know she played a part in the way students became more confident in their reading abilities and learned valuable lessons about meeting students where they are, on both an emotional and academic level. 

“Internships like this are essential for education majors because they allow us to bridge the gap between theory and practice,” she said. “Being in a real-world learning environment taught me things I couldn’t learn in a classroom alone, like individualized classroom management strategies, relationship-building and responding to students’ individual needs in the moment.”

Moriah Hollar

Moriah Hollar, an elementary education major, completed her internship at two host sites this summer: the first at Oxford Elementary School as part of the Catawba County Summer Reading Program and the second at the Concordia Christian Day School Summer Camp. 

“Internship opportunities are so important for education majors because you can learn textbook information in class all day long, but the best experience for future educators is and always will be classroom immersion,” Hollar said. “Nothing will replace being in the classroom and being able to physically interact with the kids. Observing and learning tips and tricks from veteran teachers based on trial and error is incredible life experience.”

During her time at Oxford Elementary, Hollar was paired with a mentor teacher who was working with rising third graders on reading, writing, and grammar and was able to observe instruction time and help lead small-group tasks. 

During her experience at the elementary school, she said she learned valuable lessons about being patient, understanding each child’s learning needs, and helping students stay engaged and on-task. She also was excited to help facilitate social interactions between her young students during break times. 

“This internship granted me more hands-on experiences in the classroom, which is definitely beneficial towards my future career,” Hollar said. 

During her time at the summer camp, Hollar led the children through various games while helping to teach life skills including teamwork, sportsmanship and good manners. The experience helped her learn conflict management between students, how to improvise when things didn’t go according to plan and how to balance being authoritative while also facilitating fun. 

“I really enjoy getting to know and having fun with the kids; seeing their creativity and imaginations run wild and how they navigate friendships and challenges amongst each other is truly fascinating,” she said. 

Andrey Urena-Secena

Andrey Urena-Secena, a science education major, worked with students from elementary through high school through an internship experience split between two summer camps in his hometown of Siler City, North Carolina. 

Returning to his former high school — Jordan-Matthews High School— Urena-Secena’s internship at the first site had him serving as a mentor to students from kindergarten through eighth grade as they played different sports each week. At the internship at the second site, the Hispanic Liaison, Urena-Seneca co-created a curriculum to help mitigate the “summer slide” by focusing on seven subjects, including math, biology and history. 

“I just wanted to make sure I get experience with students of all ages, even if I’m going to only teach high school once I graduate,” he said. 

A soon-to-be fourth-generation educator, Urena-Seneca has fond memories of time spent in his father’s classroom and has also seen the shortage of teachers that persists in his hometown, both of which contributed to his desire to pursue a career in education. 

His summer internship experience, he said, helped drive home the idea that education is a group effort as he witnessed how different departments come together to create a space for students to learn, how budgets are allocated and how community partners can contribute to education. 

“For me, [the internship] is not just about getting experience, it’s about getting different types of experience,” Urena-Seneca said. “The more I put myself in different environments, the more I learn to adapt; I get to think and do more and more.”