Alumni Association Internship Program Creates Leaders

Earlier this year, Sacred Heart Preparatory (SHP) alumna Lauren-Elize Roque (SHP ’20), was weighing her options for a summer internship when she remembered her older sister Brianna’s (SHP ’16) glowing review of SHP’s Academic Edge summer teaching assistant (TA) program.

After having endured remote learning due to the pandemic, Roque, a rising sophomore at Boston College, sought an in-person position with leadership training she’ll need to pursue a career in management.
 
Roque decided to peruse the offerings on the SHS Alumni professional resources website. She applied for one of three TA positions available for summer 2021 and was thrilled to land a role assisting SHP English teachers Fehmeen Picetti and Dan Kennedy.
 
“Before I graduated SHP, I was an English TA in the summer Peninsula Bridge program on campus [a program that provides educational opportunities for under-served youth]—so I knew this was something I’m familiar with and love doing,” said Roque. “Then I found out I would be working with Mr. Kennedy, who I had for freshman English, and Ms. Picetti, who has always been a great mentor for me, so I knew it would be a perfect fit.”
 
Academic Edge has been an integral program serving primarily incoming freshmen and sophomore students on the SHP campus for the past 15 years, directed for the past nine years by Dr. Anna McDonald, Ed.D., ET/P, SHP educational therapist. It has also been an employee partner supporting the SHS Alumni Internship Program since the latter first launched in the fall of 2012; just one of many employee partner organizations that offers employment to alumni.

The Academic Edge program has grown not only in numbers and offerings, but in its diagnostics tools to track progress in detailed areas of STEM subjects, said McDonald. “Ready.Set.Excel” (RSE) gives us great information in our Building Math Confidence for Math and Science [courses] that we can share with our students, their families, and their next teacher. The results across the board are amazing.” Academic Edge has had a partnership with RSE for three years.
 
McDonald has seen the experience interns receive in the program translate into strong careers. “TAs get practical, hands-on experience in a field they're passionate about. They take this real-world experience back with them to college—many TAs come back year after year,” she said, noting one alumna, Cristina Fries (SHP ’10), who participated in the program and is now in her second year as an SHP English teacher.

“I’m so glad I had that experience,” said Fries. “It helped me imagine in an embodied way what it would be like to sit in a room as a high school teacher—it gave me a sense of security that I’d done something that would prepare me to come back to this space,” she said. Fries has also taught at the college level, led educational programs at fine arts museums, and taught English as a foreign language in Argentina.

The “foundational exposure” to teaching during her first summer as a TA at SHP led Fries to return for a second summer. “Teaching is such an iterative type of career—you’re constantly learning more skills. I liked that I was given the space to get in front of the classroom, talk one-on-one with kids, work on grading different materials, and work intimately with the teacher in a way that was exposing me to what the career would be like. The teachers were supporting me as much as the students,” said Fries.

Roque agreed—being a TA has allowed her to gain “front of the classroom” teaching experience, and more importantly, has taught her how to take initiative. “From the beginning, I asked if I could take over daily check-ins, activities like ice breakers but catered toward the content of the day,” said Roque. “Having the responsibility to plan my ideas out in advance and take ownership of that has been huge for me. Not only is it super fun, but being up in front of the classroom is also building my leadership and communication skills.”

The program was also an exercise in strengthening valuable connections. “What has always been so great about Sacred Heart is the network, and teachers who genuinely care about you and want to support you,” said Roque. “That’s what’s so incredible about having these amazing mentors—you can see the care they have isn’t just for the time you’re a student here, it extends to the present and beyond.”

Roque sees the SHS Alumni professional resources website as something she’ll continue to tap into. “Even back when I was a student here at SHP, the Alumni Office gave me a list of alumni willing to be contacted for speaking opportunities. I still use that list because we need to get speakers for a lot of the clubs I’m a part of at Boston College. I love that Sacred Heart has these resources.”

The SHS Alumni Association also offers Mentee and Mentor programs, which include alumni and past parents volunteering as mentors for alumni who sign up on the website as mentees.

"The alumni internship program has engaged many alumni and past parents from our Sacred Heart, Atherton community,” said SHS Alumni Association President Abby (Mates) Smith (SHP ’88). “This network shares internship opportunities across several industries for our collegiate alumni and alumni one- to-two years out of college. It has been an invaluable resource to so many SHS Atherton alumni from our campus who have gained experience and professional and personal connections, especially to the Academic Edge teaching assistant program.”