As part of the Friends Outreach Committee’s efforts to address our international/multicultural vision of arts volunteerism, Brooks Boeke spoke on Wednesday, September 17 to 25 students visiting the Kennedy Center as part of an internship program sponsored by the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU). HACU represents hundreds of higher education institutions from the United States, Puerto Rico, Latin America, Spain, and Portugal.

The executive director of the HACU National Internship Program (HNIP), Maria-Elena Vivas-House, is a member of the Multicultural/International team for the Friends.  The HACU National Internship Program is the largest Hispanic college internship program in the United States. HNIP places college students in challenging and rewarding internships at federal agencies and private corporations. The internships are primarily located in Washington, D.C., and generally run between 10 to 15 weeks long, giving college students exposure to the wide variety of careers available to them.

In the 16 years since its inception, HNIP has grown from a program of 24 interns to providing more than 600 students with internships every year. Cumulatively, nearly 7,000 college students have benefitted from the practical experience they gained through their various internships. The federal agencies and private corporations which sponsor these internships have also benefitted by diversifying their workforce with these exceptional students and tapping potential future employees.

The HNIP students listened to Brooks’s presentation about volunteering in the arts.  Friends intern Christine Chang also spoke about why she chose an internship in arts volunteerism. A few students signed up to be on the e-mail list to be volunteers for the upcoming Multicultural Book Festival. After the presentation, the HNIP students went on a tour of the Kennedy Center.

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