Community- and Project-Based Learning (CPBL) Internship Scholarships

The LAS Community- and Project-Based Learning Internship Scholarship supports student interns as they work on clearly-defined projects for non-profit, non-governmental, or governmental organizations. In your scholarship application, you must clearly describe the project(s) you will be working on during your internship.

When applying, it is also essential that you articulate the connection between your project and the work of the community organization for whom you are interning.

Please be aware that that the committee may ask for additional information on the project if it is not clearly described.

Eligible projects are activities that result in a concrete product of some kind. There are many different types of projects that result in all kinds of products (sometimes called deliverables). In addition, your contribution to the project should require your independent or creative effort and result in something over which you can rightly claim at least partial ownership.

Projects should be designed to be responsive to both the needs of the internship site and your personal or professional interests. Ideally, the project will unite the needs of the organization with your skills and goals. This allows you to contribute directly to the work of the organization and deepen your understanding of that organization’s mission, constituencies, and/or challenges.

Projects are thus not the same thing as a list of tasks, nor are they the same thing as a job description. Qualities of eligible projects include those that are:

• Team-based, in which you work collaboratively with several people at your internship site on all aspects of the project.
• Mostly independent, in which you work on aspects of a larger project to which many individuals are contributing.
• Entirely independent, which you alone are responsible for.
• Started and completed during your internship.
• Started and completed within your internship period, but others may have begun before you joined the effort and continue beyond your internship's tenure.

The project should be a vehicle for independent learning and growth through which you can develop and improve your skills in critical thinking, written and/or oral communication, and collaboration.

Some examples of project-based activities include (but are not limited to):

• developing tutoring plans or curricula
• developing new processes or protocols
• developing training modules or manuals
• developing and/or designing statistical models, maps, or surveys
• designing and/or conducting research
• developing and/or producing specialty materials
• designing and/or mounting exhibits, performances, or events
• creating and/or supporting the creation of an archive
• planning and/or writing white papers, newsletters, or other texts
• designing and/or creating websites or multi-media presentations
• designing and/or conducting program evaluations

If you have questions about whether your internship is project-based, please first contact your faculty sponsor and internship site to discuss. Internship sites are often willing to work with interns and their faculty sponsors to co-design a project if one does not already exist. Questions can also be directed to Associate Dean Margaret Storey in the College of LAS at mstorey@depaul.edu.

Internships where your primary duties involve regular, repeated tasks or clinical/educational interactions do not result in a concrete deliverable. These types of internships can provide great learning experiences but are generally not consistent with project-based learning.

Examples of non-project-based activities:

• routine clerical tasks
• routine intake or distribution processes
• tutoring
• learning only through observation of processes others are executing
• maintaining or updating records that are part of day-to-day business

You are eligible to apply if you meet the following requirements:

• You are a currently enrolled rising sophomore, junior, senior, or Master's student in the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences. (Students whose home college is not LAS, but who have a double major or minor in a program within LAS, are eligible.)
• You are in good academic and disciplinary standing with the University.
• You have not received another scholarship for this internship (internships for which you are receiving wages from the internship site are eligible).
• You are committed to an internship of at least 10 weeks in length. (Please do not apply if you cannot make this 10-week committment.)
• You have communicated with a faculty member in the College fo LAS about your internship; if required, this person could verify details about your poject.
• Your internship consists of substantial project work that is related to your aacdemic skills or interests and designed in collaboration with the internship site.
• Your internship will take place at a domestic or international non-profit, non-governmental organization, or government entity.

No internship with a DePaul office, center, or affiliated project is eligible for the CPBL scholarship. However, students are allowed to work within DePaul while holding an internship external to DePaul.

No, students may not apply for a scholarship to support an internship at their current place of employment.

Internships during the regular academic year (Autumn, Winter, and Spring sessions) must be associated with a credit-bearing course. This may be a formal internship course, an independent study, or a content course, as appropriate to the student's degree program. The credit hours of this course should be determined by the student and their academic or internship advisor.

Internships during the summer sessions are not requried to be credit-bearing, though they may be if a student wishes to set it up this way, after consulting with their advisor.

Internship sites must be non-profit, non-governmental, or governmental entities.

Fully confirmed internships will be prioritized over those still being developed. We will accept applications for internships still in the development stage, but a large part of our assessment will focus on whether the internship position has been confirmed and the quality and relevance of the proposed internship site and project experience. Scholarships may be awarded contingently to students whose internship is still in development, but funds will not be disbursed until confirmation of placement has ben submitted.

• Care and quality of application preparation will also be taken into consideration.
• Applications with a clearly defined project and deliverable will be prioritized. If a project description is not clearly described, the committee may ask for additional information.
• All things being equal, students at later stages of their college or graduate careers will receive preference.
• All things being equal, students who have never had an internship will receive preference.
• Potential impact of the internship on your studies and career. All internships are valuable, but we aim to fund those most likely to give you the opportunity to apply your knowledge and skills in ways that enhance and expand your learning at DePaul and help you build a portfolio of experiences and projects within your areas of interest.

In your scholarship application, you must clearly describe the project(s) you will be working on during your internship and articulate how it connects to the work of your internship site.

Applicants for CPBL scholarships must complete our online scholarship application with DePaul Scholarship Connect, as follows:

1. Please upload your unofficial transcript.
2. Are you receiving a scholarship for this internship already?
3. Please upload your current resume. For help, please reference the DePaul Career Center, https://resources.depaul.edu/career-center/resumes-interviews/Pages/resumes.aspx.
4. For summer awards, your internship does not have to be credit-bearing. Please indicate if you are completing this internship for a course over the summer (what is the name/number) or if the intenrship is not credit bearing.
5. Describe your host organization (or intended host) and its mission.
6. Describe the project(s) that you will undertake during the internship. Be specific as to what you will contribute or be responsible for, and clearly outline the deliverable or expected outcome of the project. Internships without clearly defined projects will not be funded. Should you have questions about what defines a project, please refer to the FAQs. You may also discuss this with your faculty advisor/sponsor.
7. Internship supervisor's name and email. If you do not have it at this time, please indicate that in your response.
8. How does this internship relate to your academic interests and what do you hope to learn that will enhance your education?
9. How might this internship impact your future plans, including your career or vocational goals?
10. Please provide the name of the DePaulaul faculty member or internship coordinator who is familiar with this internship and your academic goals. This is most likely the person overseeing the placement and assessment of the internship. If this is for a class, it is usually the faculty member teaching the class, but in some units that is not the case. If this is not for a class, this will be the person at DePaul that can certify the academic nature of this internship. This is NOT a recommendation letter. You are providing a key academic contact who is familiar with your internship arrangements.

Students who are awarded scholarships will be asked to complete the following, in addition to any written or oral reporting or assignments required by your faculty sponsor, degree program, and/or internship site:

• entrance and exit survey for the College of LAS
• a brief (2-page) report describing the project(s) on which you worked during your internship

Apply through the DePaul Scholarship Connect tool.

1. Log into DePaul Scholarship Connect using your Campus Connect ID and password.
2. Complete and submit the General Application.
3. Your General Application will be marked with a green checkmark to indicate that it has been completed and submitted successfully.
4. If it is gray, the application was not submitted successfully; try again.
5. After submitting the General Application, you will be automatically routed to opportunities for which you qualify. You may also search for “Community and Project Based Learning Internship Scholarship.”
6. Apply by clicking on the blue “Apply” button beside each scholarship.

The General Application must be completed every academic year starting July 1st. If you complete the General Application for other DePaul scholarships, then you may immediately search for the CPBL internship scholarship.