FEP Student Profiles

HGSE students pursue a wide range of internship opportunities. The following student profiles detail some FEP experiences of recent HGSE doctoral and master's students. The profiles highlight both the diversity of interests students bring to the Field Experience Program and the range of experiences gained from their placements.

2006-2007 Students:

Yee Ping Lee

Degree: Ed.M.
Program: Human Development & Psychology
Organization: Project Zero, HGSE

My FEP enhanced my program experience tremendously; the exposure, experience and learning I’ve gained have made my internship one of the most valuable academic as well as professional experiences I've ever had. It helped me gain skills which will be transferable to many different professional and academic settings.

Sharron Steele

Degree: Ed.M.
Program: Learning & Teaching
Organization: Community Charter School of Cambridge

The FEP has definitely given me invaluable practical experience. Understanding issues in the classroom at urban schools and the difficulty of implementing school reform efforts was very eye-opening. I feel that I have more evidence for the needs in after-school education.

Sarah Ireland

Degree: Ed.M.
Program: International Education Policy
Organization: Facing History

My internship has enhanced my HGSE experience greatly. This is one of the best things I have done all year!!!! I have been offered (and accepted) a job with an organization in Washington, DC where I will be doing exactly what I did at my FEP. In fact, during my interviews, the organization asked primarily about my work at Facing History.

Bethan Jones

Degree: Ed.M.
Program: Learning & Teaching
Organization: Buckingham Browne & Nichols

I feel the FEP has really enriched my whole HGSE experience and has given so much meaning to why I came to HGSE. Working with students every week and getting to know them serves as an excellent reminder of why I wanted to come to school and what I want to accomplish as a teacher. My two FEPs have helped me decide what age group and content I want to teach next year.

Christine Zanchi

Degree: Ed.M.
Program: Human Development & Psychology
Organization: WGBH

My FEP has been extremely influential in deciding my career path. It has opened up an exciting new avenue for me. In fact, I've accepted a position at WGBH as a web producer in the interactive kids' group."

Jonathan Chapman

Degree: Ed.M.
Program: Higher Education
Organization: Harvard Green Campus Initiative

I think that my FEP was absolutely critical to making this year more than just an academic experience. It gave me the opportunity to truly connect with the practice of a field that I hope to go into after graduation. It helped to reinforce for me how passionate I am about environmental issues on campus and how I might be able to apply that passion effectively in a professional setting.

Ilana Cohen

Degree: Ed.M.
Program: Arts in Education
Organization: DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park

The FEP has given me a practical arena in which to apply all of the theory, research and thought from my academic coursework on the arts in education and on museums. The experience has enabled me to envision myself in a Museum Education department in the future, a position that I did not consider before coming to HGSE.

Jessica Ross

Degree: Ed.M.
Program: Special Studies
Organization: Harvard First-Year Outdoor Program

I am still on-track with the same career plans I had before-to remain as the Director of the Harvard First-Year Outdoor Program. In the process of doing my FEP, I have gained a mentor and advocate at the university. Learning about fundraising and strategic planning is a long-range goal, but I feel like I got a significant jump-start on it this semester, thanks to some excellent mentorship and some hard work!

Guillermo Marini

Degree: Ed.M.
Program: Arts in Education
Organization: Project Zero, HGSE

The FEP was a high point of my HGSE experience, mainly because of the opportunity to work practically on some of the theories we learned in class. I will be enrolling in the PhD program in Philosophy and Education at Teachers College next fall and plan to continue researching the relationship between the philosophy and practice of the arts, particularly theater and music, and education. I must acknowledge that one of the decisive elements that favored me during my last interview at Columbia University was precisely the rich and wide experience I obtained from my FEP internship.

2005-2006 Students:

Amanda Taylor

Degree: Doctoral Student
Concentration: Education Policy, Leadership, and Instructional Practice
Organization: The Civil Rights Project

Part of what drew me to the doctoral program at HGSE was the important work of the Civil Rights Project, and the Field Experience Program provided me with an ideal avenue with which to get involved with the Project.

As a research assistant, I've been fortunate to work closely with some of the Project's key staff members and have developed what I hope will become some lasting networks and relationships. I've become much more familiar with the landscape of educational law and with many of the Project's past and current civil rights initiatives. My work at the CRP has also helped me better understand how social science research, law, and policy work can buttress each other to forward educational equity initiatives. My FEP mentor has supported me through my own research related to the work of the Civil Rights Project and has even helped shepherd it towards publication.

Though most FEPs tend to be pursued at the master's level, the flexibility of the program has made it an invaluable component of my doctoral study and I would encourage other students in all programs to take advantage of this opportunity.

Soon Ye Hwang

Degree: Ed.M.
Program: Arts in Education
Organization: Young Audiences, Massachusetts

I came to HGSE with an interest in the partnership between artists and educators for providing children with quality arts in education. Although I will ultimately return to Korea, I wanted to understand better the intersection of arts and education in the U.S. and to think deeply about how I could bring what I learned back to Korea in a meaningful and effective way.

By observing and assessing the whole process of the drumming classes offered to children at the West End House Boys and Girls Club in Allston, I was able to study how the children progress through artistic processes while engaging simultaneously in deep conversations with the Teaching Artist and my Field Supervisor. Moreover, doing an internship for credit has made me more reflective of my own learning. It provided me with a supportive environment and community in which to think about how this internship would serve as an important complement to my course studies at HGSE; I continued reflecting on what I was learning throughout the semester in class and at my internship.

I think that I was fortunate to have participated in the Field Experience Program because it opened up opportunities to link theory with practice while building my confidence in the "real world." I believe that my interest in the partnership between the arts and education has grown even stronger as a result of having pursued this internship because it forced me to consider more deeply how the partnership would affect the teaching and learning of the arts, and it fueled me with new questions about issues of learning and teaching.

Martha Kateri Ferede

Degree: Ed.M.
Program: Education Policy & Management
Organization: Harvard Family Research Project

I wanted to pursue an FEP in order to add another dimension to my education at HGSE. Working on the Family Involvement Storybook Project at Harvard Family Research Project (HFRP) provided a natural extension and an important practical application to the foundation of theory provided in my course work.

My field supervisor was a delight to work for and provided relevant guidance, was very accessible and provided me the opportunity to be involved in more than I ever thought would be possible when I signed up. I participated in the launch of the Family Involvement Storybook Corner website and was second of three authors on an article accepted for publication in Young Children – a journal of the National Association for the Education of Young Children. The seminar portion of the FEP allowed me to share the literature review on my topic with my peers and learn about other incredible places where students were working. Our Teaching Fellow was very knowledgeable and provided excellent reference sources.

My FEP at Harvard Family Research Project was one of the highlights of my year. It was an incredible learning opportunity and one that I would do again in a heartbeat. It is a lot of work and requires dedication to do properly but well worth the effort.

Viana Turcios

Degree: Ed.M.
Program: Human Development and Psychology
Organization: Two Brattle Center

I pursued an FEP to gain experience in the field in which I am interested: clinical psychology. I had never worked in this field before and I wanted to explore the practice of clinical psychology to see if it was indeed something I would want to pursue in the future. I enjoyed my FEP because it provided a practical application to much of the theoretical knowledge I was gaining. Not only was I able to see how much I had actually learned in school, but I was able to enhance that knowledge even further by pursuing work in the field – and this was invigorating.

The FEP increased my confidence about my career plans and was instrumental in helping me form connections with people who could help me network in the field. My TF was very supportive, and understanding, and particularly helpful in guiding my reflection and research questions and in clarifying the purpose of my FEP. Both my TF and my Faculty Supervisor were very accessible and willing to talk whenever I had questions or concerns. I enjoyed the seminar because I was able to hear about other people's experiences and compare them to mine. It was really nice to know that while we were all in different placements, many of us were encountering similar issues.

Christina Dobbs

Degree: Ed.M.
Program: Language and Literacy
Organization: COACH Program

My placement added immensely to my studies because it solidified a relationship between what I hope to study in the future and the courses for my master's program. I am interested in literacy skills at the high school level and how they, in turn, affect a student's university experiences, and my placement allowed me to work with public high school students who were turning their gaze toward their plan for after high school.

My teaching fellow was instrumental in helping me to reflect on my experience in a meaningful way, and she provided a great resource and source of encouragement as I decided to combine my studies and experiences to pursue further study. When I started my Field Experience, the prospect of doing doctoral work was a possibility, but by the time I finished, I was certain that I wanted to pursue further study. I had several conversations with my TF about how to discuss my Field Experience in my applications, and I think that most certainly it added some real world experience to strengthen my applications.