{"id":1264,"date":"2009-04-10T06:28:17","date_gmt":"2009-04-10T13:28:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/?p=1264"},"modified":"2009-04-10T06:28:17","modified_gmt":"2009-04-10T13:28:17","slug":"new-program-places-katzenbach-students-in-on-campus-internships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/?p=1264","title":{"rendered":"New Program Places Katzenbach Students in On-Campus Internships"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"mckinney
(L-R): Ashley Christopher and Tushanda McKinney, students from Katzenbach School who are interning in the Food Court<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A new partnership between TCNJ and New Jersey School for the Deaf (NJSD) is paying benefits to the students from both schools who are involved.<\/p>\n

Carlos \u201cDani\u201d Quiroz, Ashley Christopher, and Tushanda McKinney, all seniors at NJSD\u2019s Katzenbach campus, are taking part in their school\u2019s Structured Learning Experience (SLE). The program places qualified students in internships with area business partners, said Lisa Gerstacker, the program coordinator for Katzenbach.<\/p>\n

This is the SLE program\u2019s first year, Gerstacker said, and TCNJ was a natural choice as a partner site because the College offers a deaf education program. Two TCNJ deaf education majors, Andrea Weatherly \u201910<\/strong> and Julia Carey \u201909<\/strong>, are serving as mentors to the Katzenbach students, meeting with them regularly and supporting them while they\u2019re here on campus.<\/p>\n

\u201cPart of our role is to be there if and when they need someone to talk to while they\u2019re on campus\u2014for instance, if they have questions about the college or getting around campus,\u201d said Carey.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes I\u2019ll help them with their homework if they have a question, or we might just talk about how their weekend went,\u201d added Weatherly.<\/p>\n

TCNJ Professor Barbara Strassman<\/strong>, coordinator of the College\u2019s Program in Education of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, helped Gerstacker secure the internships on campus. Strassman explained that the state of New Jersey mandates \u201ctransition planning\u201d as part of each student\u2019s secondary-educational experience. \u201cThis SLE program is a unique way that the mandate is being implemented, and it will help these young people have productive lives after high school,\u201d said Strassman.<\/p>\n

The program has been a great help to all students involved. \u201cIt\u2019s great for the Katzenbach students to be able to talk with people who are closer to their age than their teachers or principal,\u201d Gerstacker said. More important, she added, is the real-life experience the students are gaining.<\/p>\n

\"carey
(L-R): TCNJ student Julia Carey \u201909 with Katzenbach student Carlos "Dani" Quiroz, who is interning in TCNJ Library. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cBecause Dani plans to go to college, I thought working in TCNJ\u2019s library would be a good experience for him. The internship allows him to interact with other college students and see how a college library works,\u201d said Gerstacker.<\/p>\n

Quiroz\u2019s responsibilities include manning the library\u2019s circulation desk, re-shelving books, and organizing the stacks. \u201cWhatever they throw at me to do, I do it,\u201d he said, adding that he has enjoyed the internship tremendously. \u201cI feel like a college student when I\u2019m here. The students on campus are very nice, and everyone is so mature,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Christopher and McKinney are students in Katzenbach\u2019s food-services program. Gerstacker secured them internships in TCNJ\u2019s Student Center Food Court.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey will likely seek employment in the food-services industry after graduating, and the experience of working in that industry outside of the deaf community has been invaluable for them,\u201d Gerstacker explained. \u201cIt helps them build their resume, and it\u2019s a great way for them to learn independence\u2014another important skill in the real world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carey, whose student-teaching experiences have been with younger deaf students, said she has enjoyed the opportunity to mentor Dani, who is closer to her own age.<\/p>\n

Weatherly concurred, saying, \u201cHaving this opportunity to interact with students who are in high school is a great opportunity. It\u2019s great to work with the younger students, as I have done with my student teaching, but I won\u2019t improve my signing and communication skills unless I practice with a fluent signer. Working with Tushanda and Ashley gives me that opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A new partnership between The College of New Jersey and New Jersey School for the Deaf (NJSD) is paying benefits to the students from both schools who are involved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":1266,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-april-2009","category-on-campus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1264"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1264\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}