Loading...Sewanee, Tenn.—The Discernment Programs Office at the University of the South invites undergraduate students at colleges and universities across the nation to apply for the ninth Summer Discernment Institute to be held June 7-July 30. Applications for 12 placement openings (three of which are set aside specifically for minority students interested in ministry) are due by March 1. More information and a copy of the application form can be found at www.sewanee.edu/lillyproj/lsdi.html or by calling 931.598.1869.
Students interested in exploring vocations in ordained ministry or service with nonprofit organizations will be accepted into the eight-week program and receive a stipend for their work in their chosen internship. Students spend the first week at Sewanee engaged in activities that help prepare them for their six-week internships. Students return to Sewanee the final week for an opportunity for debriefing and reflection on their vocational experience and its values.
The Summer Discernment Institute also offers opportunities for internships with other religious or secular organizations, such as the Children’s Defense Fund, the Grameen Bank, the International Partnership for Service Learning, the Center for Action and Contemplation, the Society of St. John the Evangelist, L’Arche and Youth World International. Internships have included work in medical research, support of at-risk youth and environmental concerns. Almost 200 students from 50 colleges and universities have participated since 2002. A number of these students have now completed divinity programs at institutions as varied as Harvard, Yale, Vanderbilt, Church Divinity School of the Pacific and Cambridge University in England. Others have gone on to be youth ministers in Episcopal parishes and teachers in public and private schools.
Applications for the 2010 Summer Discernment Institute are due by March 1. IMPORTANT NOTE: Students may nominate their own placements. Students in all four years of college, including seniors, are encouraged to apply. Discernment Programs Coordinator Robin Hille Michaels comments, “Many amazing connections for students have come about from their own initiative in finding placements with churches and organizations whose missions are closely aligned with their own life’s passion.”
Sewanee: The University of the South, familiarly known as Sewanee, comprises a nationally recognized College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and a distinguished School of Theology serving the Episcopal Church. Located on 13,000 acres atop Tennessee’s Cumberland Plateau, Sewanee enrolls 1,500 undergraduates and approximately 100 seminarians in master’s and doctoral programs. Sewanee is owned by 28 Episcopal dioceses, the only university so directly related to the Episcopal Church.
