Recapping the Shepherd Internship Program Experience
On Aug. 2, Washington and Lee University’s Shepherd Poverty Program and Virginia Military Institute (VMI) hosted the 4th Annual Symposium of the Shepherd Higher Education Consortium on Poverty (SHECP) to examine the relationship between food and childhood health.
Some 90 students from 21 colleges who participated in the eight-week Shepherd Internship Program (SIP) heard presentations from three national advocates for improving children’s nutrition: Dr. Sandra Hassink, president of the American Academy of Pediatricians; Elaine Waxman, vice president for nutrition and research at Feeding America; and Victoria Kumpuris Brown, a 1988 graduate of W&L, senior program officer at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and former representative of the Alliance for Healthier Generations.
On Aug. 3, the students convened in W&L’s Science Center for a day of presentations and discussion about their experiences with impoverished people and communities.
In welcoming them, Marc Conner, associate provost at W&L said, “I’ve been at W&L for 20 years and remember when there were only three schools participating in the Shepherd Consortium. It’s so inspiring to see all these years later how it has grown. The program has always seemed to me to be the ideal expression of what a liberal arts education should be.”
He added, “I love the idea of having a symposium at the conclusion of what has been a demanding summer for you. The chance to celebrate, to share your experiences and debate the outcomes is an important component of the program. Thank you for being here, and thank you for doing life-changing work.”
Over the coming days, students will be posting reports on their internships, and you can read them at shepherdconsortium.org.
