VOCARE SUMMER FELLOWS PROGRAM
About the Program
Grounded in our belief that advancing the common good is an indispensable ingredient of meaningful work, the Vocare Summer Fellows Program encourages students to explore work experiences that promote justice—environmental, racial, social, economic, etc.
The program offers summer grants up to $5,000 to pursue unpaid summer internships at nonprofit organizations. This program hopes to help you broaden your horizons, find your callings and expand your imaginations when thinking about your future professional lives.
Application Process
Although applications will be examined on rolling basis, please submit a detailed proposal to the Honors Program by April 15.
The proposal will include:
- A project description
- An explanation of how this experience will promote justice
- Rationale for how the program or experience will enhance your educational, professional, or vocational goals
- Detailed budget for necessary expenses
Students must also submit:
- Current resume
- Current unofficial transcript
- One letter of recommendation from a Villanova University faculty member
- Articulation of the project
- Its promotion of justice
- Strength of the application materials
- Distinctiveness of the opportunity
Hear from Our Fellows
2022 Vocare Summer Fellows speak about their internship experiences
0:06
through the honors program I
0:07
participated in the Vare program the
0:10
voare program is a experience given to
0:14
honor students in the summer to uh
0:16
receive funding for a unpaid nonprofit
0:20
internship um so over the summer I had
0:23
the experience of working at a nonprofit
0:25
um local to the Greater King of Prussia
0:28
area called MIT of a Circle and I am
0:32
really appreciative for honors for
0:33
providing me the funding because
0:34
otherwise I wouldn't have been able to
0:36
do this experience and through it I
0:38
learned the importance of vocation and
0:41
that work can be meaningful and
0:43
impactful to my community and I'm really
0:45
appreciate it for that I did my
0:47
internship in NYU lingo Brooklyn and G
0:50
it's a volunteer program where um
0:53
students work in the emergency rooms
0:55
with the doctors and the nurses and the
0:56
patients for 12 weeks you really get a
0:59
taste of what it's like to work in
1:01
healthcare and the struggles that people
1:03
go through as patients so I'm Premed so
1:06
I want to be a doctor one day um and on
1:09
paper it really I got almost 300
1:12
clinical hours which is really awesome
1:15
not on paper I got firsthand experience
1:19
in healthcare that a lot of people won't
1:22
ever have I think that that has
1:25
solidified for me that I want to be a
1:26
physician um and I want to help people
1:28
and I want to work with people who are
1:30
underserved and help fix those
1:32
disparities in health care so I chose to
1:35
work with the Bicycle Coalition of
1:37
Greater Philadelphia this past summer
1:39
and that was an amazing experience so my
1:41
specific role was that I created uh
1:43
numerous videos and promotional
1:45
materials um for the Youth cycling
1:47
program it gives youth in Philly the
1:50
opportunity to remain physically healthy
1:53
mentally healthy to bond with fellow
1:55
cyclists and to really just push the
1:57
limits on what they can achieve so all
1:59
in all I'm just really grateful for my
2:00
experience with bcyc throughout the
2:02
summer it introduced me to really
2:05
passionate figures in the world of
2:06
cycling and um Community Development and
2:09
it also allowed me to dive head first
2:11
into the world of uh media production
2:14
and marketing um and just to combine
2:16
those interests in the same experience
2:19
was just invaluable and I'm just so
2:21
thankful for the honors program for
2:22
giving me the opportunity to receive
2:24
funded for this experience because
2:25
without them it probably would not have
2:27
been
2:28
possible
Austin Glass '22 speaks about his internship experience
00:05
This past summer I worked with a local non-profit called the Joy of Sox. They primarily
00:10
serve people experiencing homelessness by providing them with socks
00:14
and just generally promoting healthy foot care.
00:19
The most exciting part about my experience was the opportunity to see
00:23
kind of the totality of the non-profit from donation to actually providing those
00:29
experiencing homelessness with socks. Because it was a smaller non-profit,
00:32
I had that chance to see it from end to end, and that was really a great opportunity.
00:39
This experience impacted my professional goals. It confirmed that I want to work in a space where I'm
00:44
kind of leveraging my skills from my business education
00:48
and my economics understanding in a way that kind of serves social good,
00:51
working across the private and public sector to meet the needs of those experiencing homelessness.
00:59
The Vocare funding was extremely impactful for me because it really gave me this chance
01:04
to do this internship. I would not have had kind of the confidence approaching something like this
01:09
in the non-profit world without knowing that I was going to have costs covered. It was a really
01:14
great way that I could take that step forward in my career and kind of professional aspirations.
01:20
Additionally, I do plan on attending law school down the road. Having funding and kind of being
01:24
sure that I was financially stable doing this internship was really important to me.