Cornerstone University Annual Magazine 2022

INTERNSHIPS
ARE MORE
THAN A JOB AND
MORE THAN
CLASSROOM
LEARNING
BY NATALIE HART
pictured
This spread: Bianca Jones reflects
on her internship with the Muskegon
County Public Defender’s Office.
Page 12: Kevin Lavender offers career
advice to Levi Hinkle-DeGroot.
Page 13: Whitney Scholten at Winning
At Home.
RYAN PRINS PHOTOGRAPHY © 2022
Experiential learning is more than a
buzzword at Cornerstone University—it’s
a graduation requirement. Since 1993,
all traditionally enrolled undergraduate
students must branch out of the classroom
for one semester and complete an internship
that relates to their major, minor or career
aspirations.
Thousands of students have completed at
least one internship, working for dozens of
industries in every corner of West Michigan.
Graduate ministry students fan out to
churches and para-church organizations
for their residency year, but they are now
joined by undergraduate juniors and seniors
working at places like Mary Free Bed
Rehabilitation Hospital, Our Daily Bread,
Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Michigan
Sports Radio, Fifth Wheel Freight, Morgan
Stanley, the Grand Rapids Storm, Winning
At Home and the Muskegon County Public
Defender’s Office.
When students ask Kevin Lavender Jr.,
assistant vice president for diversity,
life calling and Christian community at
the Career and Life Calling Office, why
Cornerstone makes internships part of their
academic requirement, he tells them, “We’re
not trying to control your academic journey.
We want you to be able to look back and say,
‘I had some experiential time. I was able to
make professional connections. I was able
to be hands-on in the job before I commit
to it.’ You get to learn whether you want to
take that path or not. How else are you going
to know? We give you intentional time to
explore that.”
10 11
CORNERSTONE UNIVERSITY ANNUAL MAGAZINE
FALL 2022
CORNERSTONE UNIVERSITY ANNUAL MAGAZINE
FALL 2022