Not Your Average Internship | Summer 2021 Fellowship at the “Communiversity”

Traditional academic experiences are often siloed by discipline with learning limited to engagement with texts, discourse, case studies, and classroom-based projects. Internships have the potential to fill the void between theory and practice by offering experience in “the real world.” Yet, far too often, internships focus solely on preparing students to get a job after graduation. Rarely do internships provide space for students to apply, practice, test, and, most importantly, challenge and critique the theories of their studies in a real-world setting.  Read below about how Sweet Water Foundation offers a fundamentally different real-world experience via the “Communiversity.”

Sweet Water Foundation’s Urban Ecology Global Fellowship offers an alternative to traditional internships, providing a unique “Communiversity” setting in which undergraduate and graduate students and recent grads are grounded in hands-on work and authentic community engagement as they grapple with academic theory in the face of real world problems and solutions. SWF’s Summer Fellowship is an immersive, 10-week experience during which Fellows work side-by-side (in fellowship) with local youth and residents, educators, artists, and Values-Based Partners to practice Regenerative Neighborhood Development. For many Fellows, the fellowship provided their very first experience doing real work; the first time they used their hands (and entire bodies) or broke a sweat at work as they cultivated life on the farm, transformed wastes to resources, and gain lived experience of what it takes to grow (and maintain) a neighborhood.

The Summer 2021 Urban Ecology Global Fellows cohort represented 4 universities -- Yale University, University of Chicago, Harvard Graduate School of Design, and Chicago State University -- and 5 disciplines -- Media/Photography, Social Work, Architecture, Urban Design, and International Relations and Diplomacy. SWF also welcomed Lucero Flores, SWF Urban Ecology Educator, as the newest addition to the SWF team in June. They engaged in the 10-week, hands-on urban ecology program alongside fellows and apprentices as part of their orientation to SWF’s core team. 

The culmination of every cohort of Global Fellows is a final presentation through which Fellows share their experience, interpretations, and reflections on the intense fellowship experience at the “Communiversity.” On August 19, Sweet Water Foundation’s Summer 2021 cohort of Urban Ecology Global Fellows delivered their final presentation to a global audience of more than 40 Values-Based Partners, family + friends, community members, and representatives from colleges, universitIes, and other educational partners.

We invite you to watch their full presentation below: