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 A gathering of Hamilton/NECC former interns and employees: (front row from left): Susan Langer K'75, Katy Coonradt '03, Kerryann Freeman '03, Vin Strully '69, Sharlene Slagen '05, Jody Steinhilber '99, Stephanie Godleski '05, Jennifer Klein '01, Jordan Wishner '05; (back row): Daphne Papadopoulos '03, Alison Cornish '03, Marisabel Portillo '03, Jeannette Gould '02, Alison Kosswig '05, David Reiner '05, Kim Wysocki Keogh '90, Stacie Fitch '01 and Damien Ellens '03.

Hamilton and the New England Center for Children: A long and strong connection

All internships are valuable because they provide real-world experience. Some sweeten the pot by offering a stipend. And still others, like those at the New England Center for Children, provide a different incentive by combining on-the-job experience with course credit.

The New England Center for Children (NECC) is a school and research center based in Southborough, Mass., that provides communication, academic, social, life and vocational support for children and adolescents with autism. Each year Hamilton sends students to participate in the NECC's semester-long Cooperative Learning Internship Program where they take graduate classes, conduct research and work closely with the center's students on a variety of skill-building lessons and activities.

According to Vincent Strully, Jr. '69, founder and executive director of the NECC, the "deep and involved" relationship that exists between the College and the NECC began about 15 years ago because "Hamilton is one of only a few undergraduate schools that teaches psychology as a science by employing empirical methodologies in an experimental laboratory setting." This means that Hamilton students often have the kind of laboratory training that dovetails nicely with the NECC's commitment to applied behavior analysis, a field of psychology founded by B.F. Skinner '26.

Combine this laboratory background with Strully's observation that Hamilton students are "smart, hard workers who seem to be getting better every year," and it's no wonder Hamilton is the predominant school participating in the internship program. So far, 30 Hamilton students have completed internships during the academic year, and six have done so over a summer. All of Hamilton's interns receive credit for the courses they take at the NECC, and many expand upon their internship work when it comes time to do their senior theses.

Furthermore, of the 19 former interns who have graduated from Hamilton, four are now working with the NECC and, of the seven students who are graduating this May, three have applied for positions. Because the NECC is partnered with three graduate programs, students who return to the NECC receive credit toward graduate degrees for coursework already completed at the center. 

"Faculty in the psychology department actively recruit their best and brightest students and, in partnership with the Career Center, guide those students to take advantage of the NECC opportunity," said Kino Ruth, director of the Career Center. "It's a great opportunity for students to get hands-on experience applying what they learn in the classrooms and labs."