Professional Internship/Apprenticeship, and Basic Requirements/

Support

 

 

The program will meet from 8:05 to 2:47 and will mirror the Addison Northwest Supervisory Union calendar.  Students will engage in a diverse range of activities that are linked to

Vermont Standards.

 

The curriculum is inspired by the writings of the great American philosopher and thinker Henry David Thoreau and the tradition of social discourse and self-reliance that he advocated.  To that end, students will be engaged in a number of different projects.

 

 

The shared goals of learning as a life long endeavor and education as an affordable and accessible experience provides a natural link between the Walden Project and Community College of Vermont. This partnership allows for students who are participating in the Walden Project to earn community college credit through courses at the community college. This course of study at Community College of Vermont will allow students, who have not considered college as an option, an opportunity to understand the personal value of higher education and to realize its viability.  For the student who is already planning to go to college, this will give them an opportunity to become more familiar with the rigors of an undergraduate education.  

 

 

All students will be required to have an internship with a local artisan/craftsperson.  They will work with this individual for one day a week, with an eye to gain a professional skill that they will be able to translate, should they so choose, into  employment upon the completion of the program.  Students will determine their apprenticeships based upon their own individual goals and interests.  Staff at the Walden Project will work in conjunction with the School-to-Work program in the Addison Northwest Supervisory Union to secure the proper internship and to advise students on a range of important job related issues, including résumé writing, interviewing, punctuality, work ethic, respect for people and things, cover letters, and other relevant skills.

 

Traditional apprenticeships thus far have included work in diverse fields, including organic gardening, auto mechanics, writing, teaching, art, carpentry,  social activism, music, and audio/visual technology.  There are no programmatic constraints on these apprenticeships, as long as they provide the students with some skills that promote a clear sense of how their efforts fit within the context of society as a whole.

 

Second and third year Walden students may choose to devote more than one day a week to their apprenticeships if it is deemed that this will serve their professional and academic aspirations.  Students will be encouraged to find parallels and connections between their field of study and their apprenticeships.

 

 

Students will be required to maintain weekly attendance log with on-site instructor/leader. Less than 75% attendance will result in course failure.

Students will be required to keep an apprenticeship journal that at minimum keeps track of who/what/where/when and a paragraph of commentary.

Students will be required to give a well organized oral presentation of their experience at least once per semester.

Site instructor/leader will keep a rubric-based assessment which student is responsible for handing in to Walden Staff.

           Walden Project