Scourfield McLauchlan, Incorporating Internships into Undergraduate Political Science Coursework, Page 29
As one student described in his journal, “. . . a man from the Hartford Courant
interviewed us. . . then we went canvassing and a photographer came and followed me. . . I
remember thinking this is how real celebrities must feel.”
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The Results of the New Hampshire Experience
Upon our return from New Hampshire, I edited a book about the class, and one of the students, a
photojournalism major,
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produced a documentary DVD about the New Hampshire experience.
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Our work on these projects provided an opportunity to synthesize and analyze what we had
learned during that exciting 10-day journey.
While in New Hampshire, students were required to keep a campaign journal – to record
their thoughts, descriptions of the work they were doing, and reflections on what they were
learning from the experiences. Students also posted entries in their “blogs”
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– an online weblog
of their experiences, so that folks back home in Florida – and around the country – could keep
track of their activities and progress. Upon our return, students were required to write a paper
about their internship experience, as assignment that required them to step back from the day-to-
day recordings in their journals and to reflect on what they learned during the internship.
These student writings provided the basis for the book, which also included memorabilia
(campaign literature, fliers, walklists, etc.) and a photo album, as well as newspaper and
magazine articles about the class.
I scheduled an additional class meeting (a luncheon) to
distribute copies of the books and DVDs to the class, to watch the documentary together, and to
reminisce about the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity we experienced in New Hampshire.
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Brandon Keith, Journal.
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Julie Petrick, who did an outstanding job.
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There may be copies of the book and DVD available. Please contact the author at ## email not listed ##.
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The blogs can be viewed at
www.stpt.usf.edu/whitehouse
. A sample page is included in Appendix V.
Convention