Integrated experience The three-pronged Wartburg West experience includes, for the most part, classes on Monday and Friday mornings and Wednesday evenings, community engagement projects on Monday and Friday afternoons, and internships on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. The schedule varies for education and social work majors — who student teach or complete a social work practicum, respectively — and for second-year students. Third- and fourth-year students take two courses in addition to a two-credit internship. Second-year students during Fall Term take three courses as well as a one-credit internship. Bock said curriculum offerings may be expanded. “The current program doesn’t provide a lot of Wartburg West flexibility for students who Courses have particular needs as far as their majors and the Metropolis Studying urban life and issues, curriculum,” he said. “Juniors including a community-service project. and seniors taking upper-level Urban Lifestyles Exploring major issues in courses offered only once a urban America as well as participation in the year or every other year just life of the city. can’t miss those courses. We’re beginning to explore ways Religious Traditions of Immigrant to deliver a diverse academic Communities How and why religious curriculum here. Our model of communities came to the Denver area and their curriculum is going to change impact. over the next several years Christian Faith and Politics in as we work with faculty on America The evolution of U.S. churchcampus to figure out ways they state issues and the ways Christian persons can author courses in Denver.” and organizations exercise their faith in the political realm. The Colorado Legislature offers a real-time study of how the issues play out.
Attractive internships Internships — a major component in the program — also may be enhanced. At the very least, the site is more convenient. “The new location is only about three or four blocks from the state capitol and just across the way are the city offices,” Bock said. “We’ve had students do internships in the Denver Public Library and the Denver Art Museum, which are in the same civic center area. The main downtown commercial street is within easy walking distance.” Brandon Hosch ’13 of Epworth recently landed a job with radio giant Entercom, which has four stations in the Denver area. He interned there while at Wartburg West. “The Wartburg West experience enabled me to meet great professionals,” Hosch said. “I used those connections to start my career immediately after graduating.”
Brandon Hosch ’13 turned an Entercom internship into a career.
Recent internship placements have included: Biology: Denver Health Medical, St. Joseph’s Hospital, Rocky Mountain Youth Clinic, North Washington Dental Clinic, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Doctor’s Care Clinic, Homestead Animal Hospital Communication arts: Denver Parks and Recreation, Boys and Girls Clubs of Metro Denver,
Historic Denver Inc., B’s Ballpark Museum
Finance, Accounting: Mercy Housing, Denver Health Medical, Merrill Lynch, Colorado Department of Housing Social Work: Lutheran Family Services Refugee Program, Empowerment Program, Mount St. Vincent Home, Bridge Project, Life Care Center, Servicios de la Raza Business: REI, Live Nation Concerts, Denver Film Society, Visit Denver,
Denver Parks and Recreation
Education: numerous schools in and around Denver Engineering: Major Geothermal; Denver Public Works Math, Computer Science: Denver Department of Environmental Health History: Historic Denver, Colorado History
12
SUMMER | 2013