Sister Seton Cunneen Summer Service Fellowship

The Sister Seton Cunneen Summer Service Fellowship (Cunneen Fellowship) offers Trinity Students the opportunity to work in community service and non-government organizations (NGO) for ten weeks during the summer as a way of exploring social issues and providing valuable service to the DC community.

The Cunneen Fellowship expects that a Fellow will have meaningful engagement during their summer placement. First, a vital part of the educational mission of this fellowship is to link the realities of direct service needs with larger social issues. Ideally the Fellow would be able integrate their studies with their fellowship experience. Second, the opportunity to work with on issues and with various agency staff enhances the Fellow's perspective in understanding the work of the agency. Last, but not least, is the privilege to interact with the population the agency serves as a valuable foundation to understanding the genuine needs and concerns of people in vulnerable situations.

The placement site is expected to provide the Cunneen Fellow with an orientation to their organization, on-going direction, supervision and opportunities for feedback. The Site Supervisor, the Cunneen Fellow and the Director of Campus Ministry participate in a site visit and an evaluation process that includes the Fellows participation and the program process. The Cunneen Fellow, the Site Supervisor and the Director of Campus Ministry at Trinity Washington University sign a service learning agreement that outlines expectations of the Cunneen Fellowship.

Ideally placement sites would be among any number of Trinity's community partners. The Fellowship is not limited to those agencies. Applicants may choose an organization in an interest area such as poverty, homelessness, domestic violence, etc. or they may choose an organization with which they currently volunteer. As a Catholic college, we expect that any placement site would operate in keeping with the principles of Catholic Social Teaching such as human dignity, the right to participation, human rights and responsibilities, solidarity and the preferential option for the poor.

The Summer Fellows meet regularly as a group with the Director of Campus Ministry. There are regular updates about their work and on-going discussion around the development of a case study leading to a final paper. The conversations are very rich as they allow participants to share stories and gain insight to other work experiences and exposure to various issues. At the conclusion of the summer, participants submit a case study that addresses some incident from their work sight and explores the topic in detail. In the fall semester each of the Fellowship recipients gives a presentation about their experience. Different venues have been used such as a celebration of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, a service fair or the Sower's Seed event. In each case, the presentation gives the student the opportunity to share what they have learned and helps to promote the fellowship to the larger campus community.