Summer Internships

Applicants

Project Transformation is a faith-based summer program for young adults who have completed at least their freshman year of college and are seeking a summer of service internship in either Dallas, Texas or Sherman, Texas, which is located about one and a half hours north of Dallas. The program is designed to offer young adults a vehicle in which to grow in their faith journey while experiencing cultural and socio-economic diversity, living in a Christian-centered team environment, and explore various ministry opportunities. Applicants should:

Be highly motivated, self-starters
Possess strong interpersonal and communication skills
Enjoy working with children and/or youth
Desire to grow in their faith journey
Be dedicated to living in community with other young adults in a structured environment.

Service Experience

There are four primary components to the Project Transformation internship experience:

Day Camp
During the summer program, Project Transformation interns work in teams of 6-9 team members, while serving in an eight-week summer day camp for 60 to 75 elementary children and youth. Sites are located in urban churches or at a local community center. Components of the program include: Bible lessons, arts and crafts, music, recreational activities, and other activities in which the gifts and talents of the interns can be shared with the children.

Spiritual Development
Project Transformation invests in the spiritual development of each intern, opening their eyes to the needs and opportunities for ministry. The program will help the interns learn to build a community of support through worship, Bible study, and outside speakers. The interns participate in a weekly worship session as well as short morning devotions each day before heading to the program sites. Interns are encouraged to examine their personal beliefs through intellectual and spiritual discussions.

Church Involvement
On Sundays, interns will participate in worship and Sunday School at their site church with their team. This is an opportunity to connect the children that attend the day camp and their families with the church family. Through regular church attendance the interns will generate a volunteer core with the congregation members to bring continuity to programs and relationships established over the summer. Also they will create a link between the partner churches (often their home church) and the host churches (the church in which they are assigned) by recruiting volunteers to read with the children that attend the day camp, collecting supplies for the program, and sharing the stories of their experience.

Career Exploration
The interns are exposed to various avenues of lay and ordained ministry through guest speakers, field trips, and interactions with church leaders. Guest speakers are from the various United Methodist institutions: Southern Methodist University, Methodist Hospital, North Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church, Perkins School of Theology, Texas Methodist Foundation, UMR Communication, and more.

Specifics

The dates for this service experience are May 31 thru August 8, 2008. This includes one week of pre-program training, eight weeks of day camp, and either one week of overnight Urban camp at Bridgeport Camp & Conference Center or "Adventure Week" with elementary students in Dallas.
From May 31 through August 3, 2008, young adults will live in community in housing provided through Project Transformation. Dinners will be provided from Sunday through Thursday evenings, housing and meals are also provided during the week of Urban Camp at Bridgeport.
During their summer of service, interns cannot have commitments outside of Project Transformation, such as summer school or a part-time job.
The interns participate in a training week, beginning May 31, followed by eight weeks of day camp. During this time, participants live in community on SMU's campus.
One night per week, the young adults participate in a group Bible study & worship time. The interns must attend nightly dinners that are prepared by partner churches- this is a time to share the summer service experience with partnering volunteers.
On Fridays, the interns experience worship and explore different careers in service through a dialogue with lay and ordained leadership of various partnering non-profit organizations and United Methodist institutions.
Each week, Project Transformation interns attend and participate in the leadership of their site church.
At least once during the summer, the intern will speak to his/her partner church about the summer service experience - this could be to a Sunday school group, the congregation, youth group, or other.

In many ways working with Project Transformation in the summer program exceeds participating in a summer job and crosses into a summer life. The time expectations can be great, but the potential for personal rewards that come from this kind of commitment are even greater. While much is expected of each young adult leader, much is given in return in the form of love from the kids, support and fun from living in a community, and the energy that comes from working with God foremost in mind. You never really know how much you can receive until you truly give.

Time off
Friday afternoon-Sunday morning each weekend AND all day Friday, July 4th.

Compensation
$2,900 living stipend- paycheck, $1,250 education voucher (issued by AmeriCorps after completed term of service and available to be used during/after the spring semester following the summer of service), and room and board.

Application Procedure
Proceed by filling out and turning in the Application for Summer Service, then speak to your pastor and look at the Partner Church Letter of Commitment.

After the completed application has been submitted, the Project Transformation office will contact the applicant to set up an interview.

Applicants should their send their completed application form and three completed Letters of Recommendation forms to the address below. A resume and cover letter are strongly recommended.