Internship Program Development: Developing an Effective Internship Program for Faith Based Organizations

This paper presents the process, methods, and findings of action research on lhe topic af internship program development within organizations. Organized and well-designed programs can improve a sludent\u27s ability to integrate academic knowledge with practical applications, as well as improve career opportunities after graduation, while developing work place communication and problem solving skills. lnternship programs also offer non-profit organizations opportunities to develop future leaders while gaining extra support within the working environment. Information gathered from an online survey taken by past and present internship students, data from a staff focus group, along with responses from one-on-one interviews has provided important information from different perspectives of an internship experience. While analying the findings and applying The Leadership Challenge theory, further recommendations for the implantation of an internship progrom have heen suggested in hopes af making a valuable contribution to lhe organization