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Intern Projects
Each September and January, schools, organizations and agencies can submit brief proposals to apply for a team of University of Dayton early childhood  interns who will work with a mentor to plan and implement a family engagement project. Proposals submitted by the deadline will be reviewed and selected by the intern teams. 
At the end of every semester, our interns put together a poster presentation of what they accomplished over the course of the semester. These presentations explain the process they went through to set up their event as well as the goals they had and the successes they accomplished. 

What have the Interns been working on?

1.  CAMP READ S’MORE FAMILY LITERACY NIGHT
The interns planned the family literacy night: Camp Read S'more at Ascension School. They planned activities and games to promote literacy skills at home. There were opportunities for students to read with their parents and interact throughout the event. As the parents and children left, they were given a s'more snack, free book, and parent resources. To promote the event, the interns did a read aloud in the K-3 classrooms to engage the students and inform the teachers about the literacy night.
Mentor: Elisabeth Friel, Reading Specialist/Testing Coordinator
Interns: Camila Lopez-Gomez, Elana Karhoff, Sam Mack

2.  FAMILY CAFE-KLEPTZ EARLY LEARNING CENTER
The interns helped plan a family café after meeting with their mentor to identify goals, resources and design a survey for parents to identify scheduling options. Using input from the surveys, flyers were produced and sent home to parents. The family café was held on a Thursday evening at the center.
Mentor: Noelle Leingang, Preschool Director
Interns: Maria Nestler, Maggie Weeda, Taylor Imwalle

3.   EARLY CHILDHOOD SOCIAL MEDIA EXPRESS
The interns worked with the Family Engagement Collaborative’s communication specialist to provide family engagement content to school administrators to ultimately be distributed to their school families/parents in the form of an electronic package to be sent out once a month.
Mentor: Jessica Proud, Communication Specialist
Interns: Elizabeth Birch, Allie Huscroft, Angela Brooks

4.  FAMILY café AT CLEVELAND SCHOOL
The interns planned buffet style food, had tables set up with tablecloths, and raffled gift baskets. The parents were given topics and questions about technology, routines, and their children’s after school programs. They were asked to discuss the topics and questions at their tables. Then the parents came together for a group discussion to voice their opinions.
Mentor: Annette Malone, YMCA Family Support Specialist
Interns: Makenna Kaniewski, ToriWhite
 
5.    BOO BINGO AT EASTMONT SCHOOL
The interns and school staff met and together created a plan for what the goals of the school were and how we could accomplish this through a family collaborative night. In the past they have hosted a bingo night which was a huge hit and had a big turn out, so the interns decided this would be a great way to get families involved in a fun and creative way.
Mentor: Michelle Pund, Teacher
Interns: Kiki Von Brauchitsch, Eileen Mulroe, Catherine Sheehan, Caroline O'Donnell

6.  CONSCIOUS DISCIPLINE
The interns attended the fall harvest party for the nursery school. They set up a table and had a flyer about conscience discipline. Each parent had to come to the table to sign in and the interns described what conscience discipline is, why parents should consider using it, and an example of an instance they could use it, and then parents were given a flyer.
Mentor: Terri Sims, Director Playtime Nursery School
Interns: Francesca Martella, Sarah Kintner, Marlee Hillock

7.    FEC STUDENT LIAISON
The intern attended monthly FEC meetings and gave regular updates about topics of discussion and other activities. She worked closely with the Family Engagement System Self Evaluation (FESSE), conducting surveys to revalidate the tool’s model and values.
Mentor: Dr. Adams
Intern: Tessa Fries

8.  BELLBROOK SUGAR CREEK PRESCHOOL WEBSITE
The interns worked on recreating the preschool website for the Bellbrook Sugar Creek School. They added resources, information, and contacts under a number of different topics. These topics included: the importance of play, ACCESS curriculum, staff/student handbook, developmental milestones, and community resources. They worked with the tech team at the preschool to add it to their developing website.
Mentor: Nancy Struble, Preschool Coordinator
Interns: Emma Baker, Joy Rogers, Lexi Grace, Kelsey Wisniewski, Kelley Malewitz

9.  PASSPORT TO KINDERGARTEN ACTIVITY PACKET
The interns created a packet with activities for students entering kindergarten to complete at home with their families. The packet included lesson plans that focused on water conservation, as well as picture books that could be found at Dayton Metro Library that related to water conservation. The activities taught concepts like water forming in clouds, scarcity of water, and water pollution.
Mentor: Karen Kuras, Manager of Education Programs
Interns: Claire Grabowski, Davida Okyere-Fosu, Stephanie Sheikh, Emily Wells, Hannah Zannetti

10. It's Fall Y'all!
The interns planned a fall event for kinship, foster, and complex care children and their families. There were enjoyable snacks, activities and games. Volunteers from the hospital, UD, and the Dayton community participated. The goal was for the families to meet each other and to provide resources for them as well.
Mentor: Kimberly Budig, Dayton Children’s Foster, Kinship and Complex Care Programs
Interns: Laura Payne, Becca Kryzaniak, Catherine Sheehan, Lydia Barnes, Caelin Micks, Martina Lee