Taking the Next Step After CIP
By Janet Hrezo, Brevard Center Staff
Students and staff at the Brevard Center got together in July to say goodbye to five students who are leaving CIP and taking the next step forward in their lives. All of us are very proud of them and of what they have accomplished.
Where Do Students Go After CIP?
Our student alumni continue to make strides at colleges and universities while employed and living independently. Many of our alumni are also active members of their community. See below for colleges, degree and employment information on CIP alumni.
Chris Kennedy, Brevard Center Student Ambassador Award Winner
By Jennifer Kolarik, CIP Brevard Career Coordinator
Chris Kennedy has been a student at the Brevard Center for the past 4 years. Over that time, he has propelled himself to new personal heights while presenting at conferences and open houses about his own experiences at the College Internship Program. At the Brevard Center Convocation and Awards Ceremony this May, Chris was honored with the CIP Student Ambassador Award for his contributions.
Continue reading ‘Chris Kennedy, Brevard Center Student Ambassador Award Winner’
MORE Than a Category, a Label, a Box
By Liz Spremulli-Gray, 2010 CIP Berkshire Alumni
5/20/10
People become students at CIP to improve themselves. But often, new students come in thinking they don’t need help in certain areas that their parents and peers know they do, or that they are above such a program. They can be too prideful, and without accepting advice or help, their success in the program may be limited.
In the PBS adaptation of Andrea Levy’s novel Small Island, I was struck by a particular line spoken by the narrator, “Sometimes, to make a dream come true, you must swallow your pride.” The truth contained within that sentence is undeniable.
Where Are They Now? Alumni Report
By Janet Hrezo, Brevard Center
Students never really leave CIP. What they learn here goes with them and they always remain in our hearts. When Jarrett Suhr first came to the Brevard Center, we knew we had some work to do but, in the end, Jarrett met the challenge and triumphed.
Where Are They Now? Alumni Report
By Dan McManmon, College Internship Program National Office
This month we will briefly catch up with Berkshire Center Alumni Brian Plushanski. Brian left the Berkshire Center in the Spring of 2009. He now lives in central New Jersey, where he works with his father at ABM Self Storage, BP Construction Company and a new Recycling Company he is starting.
When Brian first came to CIP, he struggled with his reading course at Berkshire Community College. He then took advantage of the Career Skills Training and Employment Program (C-STEP) in conjunction with CIP’s in-house classes and training modules at the Berkshire Center. The staff at Berkshire had many good things to say about Brian….
By Adria Nassim, Bloomington Center student
I can’t believe it’s time already for me to start packing up and saying “See ya sooner than later!” Before I came to CIP, life was very different. I was away at college suffering from severe anxiety and depression which eventually lead to sporadic psychogenic seizure due to trauma.
Although I’ve always been known to be academically contentious, I could no longer focus in school and was faced with the idea of having to take a semester off due to illness. That’s when my parents and I discovered CIP.
By Mendy Kossmann, Bloomington Academic Coordinator, and Alex Wiser
Alex Wiser graduated from Ivy Tech Community College in Bloomington, IN on May 15, 2009 with an Associate of Applied Science in Computer Information Technology.
Alex came to The Bloomington Center in 2006, he was 19 years old. Before coming to CIP, he attended the Community College DeAnza and took General Studies classes near his home in San Jose, California. Alex had been having a difficult time because he would start classes strong, but eventually lost interest.
CIP Graduate Takes Alternative to College
By Katrina Karro-Gassner, Berkshire Center Graduate
Over the years I have learned a great deal from all my friends, staff and coworkers. I look back and remember my first year when I had some difficult times. When I first came to the College Internship Program (CIP), I was afraid to try new things and was not ready to get a job, I refused to try an internship because I had no experience and it was hard for me to do things on my own.
Continue reading ‘CIP Graduate Takes Alternative to College’
How the People at CIP Changed My Life
By Travis Toor, Brevard Center Student
When I first came to the College Internship Program, I felt like it was a going to be a prison sentence. I didn’t know anyone and, to be honest, I was scared. My roommate and now best friend, Andrew, made me feel a little better the first day we met. He was, and is always, willing to help me out with anything I need.
By Jeff Wheeler, Berkshire Center Academic Coordinator
It is a magnificent late spring afternoon at Tanglewood in the Berkshire hills. The sky is heartbreakingly blue and a gentle breeze wafts a heady mixture of fragrance from the blooms of lilacs, peonies, and irises through the air. The temperature is a perfect 72 degrees. The ancient oak and ash trees are resplendent with their fresh translucent leaves filtering the sunlight and giving the day a surreal greenish tint.
Alumni Student is…. “Recycling Maaaan!”
This Berkshire Center alumni student is becoming quite a hit at the Reading, Pennsylvania Philli’s baseball games. Known as “Recycling Man”, his mission is help fans recycle their paper and plastic items into the correct bins, thus saving valuable recyclable resources for future use.
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