Letter to the Editor: Rebovich: students wanted

To the editor:

Samantha Sawh (“Silver spoon feeds opportunities,” Sept. 28) makes several interesting points about the struggles students often find when seeking an internship.

The Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics actually provides a number of unique and valuable resources that address those hardships.

Sawh notes that students who lack a personal network face more difficulties in finding an internship. It is for this reason that the Rebovich Institute works to train students affiliated with us in the art of networking each year.

In addition, our speaker series provides students with the chance to practice and refine those skills several times a semester with the public officials who visit Rider. More than one Rider student has landed an internship because of who they met at our programs.

Furthermore, the Rebovich Institute provides a unique Summer Internship Guide, available exclusively for Rider students. Each year, the guide offers more than 60 summer internship opportunities covering experiences in business, association management, civil liberties and law enforcement, environmental advocacy, science and technology, public relations, political campaigns and government.

The guide provides a one-page, easy-to-read format for each internship offered, so a student can clearly compare all of the options available.

For several years, we have had more internship opportunities listed in the guide than we have students to fill them. The number one reason students won’t apply? They have to make money over the summer and can’t afford to do it.

Indeed, this was Sawh’s second point: the financial hardship on students who are forced to take an unpaid internship.

Therefore, the Rebovich Institute now offers $1,000 to $1,500 scholarships to qualified students to take on unpaid internships in government, politics, public policy or issue advocacy. This summer, 13 Rider students – known as Rebovich Fellows – received $17,000 in scholarship for working in unpaid internships.

All of these resources – the networking, the civic programming, the Internship Guide, the Rebovich Fellowships – are available to every Rider student, regardless of major.  As we remind our students, no matter what you do in life, politics will intrude at some point.  Through the Rebovich Institute, you can round out your educational experience with a different “take” on your field of study.

Any student interested in learning more about our programs and how to be involved should reach out to me at bdworkin@rider.edu.

—Ben Dworkin, Ph.D.

Director of Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics

Printed in the 10/12/16 issue.