In addition to the 270 students studying here at the Advanced Studies Program (ASP) and enjoying the beautiful St. Paul’s School (SPS) campus, a total of 24 female interns and 15 male interns reside in the dormitories, teach in the classrooms, and lead extra-curricular activities. While all of them are doing roughly the same job here, the interns are a diverse group of people: they all have very different personalities, despite meshing quite well together; they all have different educational backgrounds, as some were SPS students, some are ASP alumni, and some had no previous affiliation with either the ASP or SPS. That said, there has been some curiosity about how the interns are hired and why they choose to work during the program’s five and a half weeks.
Michael Chen, from San Diego, California, just graduated from Dartmouth this spring with a major in ancient cultures and civilizations. Chen first heard about St. Paul’s School from a faculty member here at SPS, who was interviewing him about his enrollment at Dartmouth. He was looking for a summer job just as he finished his final year in college. “It was the first thing that popped up on a Google search when I was looking for a summer teaching job in New Hampshire,” Chen said.
Although Chen never attended the ASP, he expressed an interest in the World Religions class because of his deep background in the ancient world. He filled out the online application and was contacted in January by Michael Ricard, ASP Director. A phone interview took place and questions were asked about how he would handle dorm/class issues and, soon after, Ricard hired Chen for the position.
Unlike Chen, Jessica McKenzie has some experience on this campus not from previous time spent with the ASP, but from the four years she spent here as an SPS student. After graduating, she attended Barnard College, where she majored in English and also earned a minor in anthropology.
“The application process (for the ASP internship) was long,” said McKenzie. “I came to the campus to be interviewed my Mr. Ricard. It was the longest interview I have ever had. It took an hour, but he was easy to talk to and he offered me the job on the spot.”
Ashley Ardinger, a 2007 alumna of the ASP and rising senior at Trinity College, thoroughly enjoyed her experience as a student, but had even greater reason to return to the grounds this summer.
“The reason I came back was because my mom was an ASP student and came back to intern for a summer and loved every minute of it. She said it was more fun,” Ardinger said. “I filled out the application and emailed professors and coaches to write recommendations for me. Mr. Ricard came to Trinity to interview me face to face.”
Now a Writing Workshop intern, Ardinger said the interview was “pain free.” Although she has served as a student teacher in a third grade class and also taught special education completely in Spanish while she studied abroad for a semester in Argentina.
Ricard confirmed that potential interns indeed go through “an extensive application process.” They are required to submit a personal statement, as well as a transcript and recommendations, and many have an interview with Ricard. In all, Ricard reads over 150-200 applications before determining the group of interns each summer.
“Some classes are more popular (than others) and the language classes are tougher to find candidates,” Ricard said. He interviews as many applicants as possible by travelling to schools such as Bates, Bowdoin, Columbia, NYU, and Harvard or engaging in conversations via Skype, over phone, or in person.
In addition, Ricard tries to hire back four to five interns from the previous summer because he likes to have some experience back as well as give them a chance to try a new class. “They still have to reapply however; it’s rare that an intern has stayed in the same class as the summer before. They do not have to start in Writing Workshop either; it just works out that way sometimes,” Ricard said. On a final note, Ricard said, “I am very pleased with this intern group. They go above and beyond what they are asked. They want the best possible experiences for the kids and enjoy seeing them happy.”
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