The Path to Success
When Miriam Fagan, LC’10, started her internship with the Cambridge Women’s Center HelpLine in January 2008, she couldn’t have known the path this experience would lead her down during the next three years. Miriam is a Lesley graduate who is making a positive difference in the lives of others every day as a Resource Specialist at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and her career is a direct result of her undergraduate internship experiences.
Miriam, a transfer student who entered Lesley University as a sophomore, chose this first internship to fulfill one of her degree requirements. In the course of earning degrees, all undergraduate students participate in at least two internships, as well as required concurrent academic coursework.
With a major in Counseling Psychology and a minor in Photography through The Art Institute of Boston, Miriam worked with the Lesley University Internship Office to develop a sequence of internships that suited her dual interests in social sciences and the arts.
She brought her counseling and photography interests together while serving as a Medical Advocacy Intern at the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center. There, in addition to her work with survivors of rape and sexual assault, Miriam developed a project to photograph and tell the stories of the Medical Advocacy volunteer team. Miriam has self-published this collection, and her photography has been used by BARCC in the organization’s work. Through a later internship in the communications office at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Miriam honed her photography skills, resulting in her photo being published in the Boston Globe.
The Value of Experience
Miriam explains that, “When graduation approached, I knew from my internship experiences that while I loved photography, I wanted a job where I would use my counseling psychology background in my daily work.” She applied for a position as a Resource Specialist at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, a role that connects patients and caregivers with housing, transportation, and financial resources needed through the duration of treatment. Her internships, and the knowledge and connections that she gained through these experiences, positioned her well for this job, and she has been working in this role since August 2010. She loves her work, and in September, Miriam plans to attend the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology, where she will pursue a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology.
Miriam’s parents are grateful to Lesley and appreciate the great value of Miriam’s internship experiences, as well as a teaching assistant position that Miriam held in the internship program. To express their gratitude, Mark and Janet (GSOE, ‘97) Fagan have made a gift to the Lesley Internship Office in recognition of Miriam’s experiences. “We made this gift in appreciation for the work of the faculty and staff who run such an excellent internship program,” said Janet.
This support has allowed the Internship Office to make modest grants to students with financial need during the course of their internship. These needs range from purchasing an appropriate professional outfit for a student who has never worked in an office before to funding transportation to internship sites. Gifts like this one from the Fagan family enable the Internship Office to enhance the experiences of Lesley University students as they pursue their professional aspirations and get real-world experience through hands-on internship opportunities.
Giving Back to Lesley
For more information about making a gift to Lesley, including a gift to support the work of the Lesley University Internship Office, please contact Pattyanne Lyons at 617-349-8178 or at plyons4@lesley.edu.