meet the summer of 2017 class

We recently kicked off the start of our 5th summer program with 13 very talented college students who have been making a mark on their campuses and in our communities. A record 80 students applied for this summer’s program, making the selection process extremely challenging!
Students in the Summer 2017 class are rising juniors and seniors from the University of Texas, Texas A&M, Mary Hardin Baylor and Valparaiso. While there is a strong concentration of marketing & communications majors this summer, this group also stands out for its cross-cultural interests with students studying International Relations and foreign languages like Spanish, French and Arabic.
​A summer with ServeHere provides many learning opportunities. The students’ new classrooms are the internship placements where they are challenged to apply what they have learned in their field of study in order to make a real impact. They  also meet one-on-one with a mentor and in weekly group sessions where students tackle a challenging curriculum designed to prepare them to lead a life of significance.
This summer, internship placements were made in eleven different non-profits around Austin. Most of these organizations serve populations that struggle with  poverty. But their clients’ circumstances are very diverse — spanning the homeless, displaced and disadvantaged youth, refugees, young mothers, severely disabled children, and villagers in Africa and the Dominican Republic.
Our Summer 2017 Non-profit Partners

• Fostering Hope Austin – equipping and strengthening foster and adoptive families
• Heart of Texas Pregnancy Resource Center – helping new and expectant mothers
• Hope Clinic – providing medical services for refugees and other underinsured populations
• Hope4Minds – enriching the lives of children with acquired brain injuries
• Makarios – providing education and community outreach in the Dominican Republic
• Mobile Loaves and Fishes – lifting up Austin’s homeless population
• Mount Nebo Austin – gospel-centered development for under-resourced communities
• River City Hope Street – lifting up Austin’s homeless population
• Starry – helping children from hard places and struggling families find their place and healing
• Water to Thrive – bringing life-giving water wells to Ethiopia, Tanzania and Uganda

The work our students do inside these organizations is both interesting and valuable, coming with more responsibility than traditional internship roles and opportunities to share the love of Christ.
Our two day kick-off session gave our students a chance to meet each other, learn from inspirational  speakers, participate in workshops, and reflect on their goals for this summer.  They are now off and running — applying themselves in full-time roles where they are learning to be as successful on the job as they have been on campus.