Bloomfield College Students Granted Prestigious Summer Internships at Princeton University

La-Tina Graham and Tori Seigler

Two Bloomfield College students are headed to Princeton University this summer to participate in the 2022 Aspiring Scholars and Professionals (ASAP) program. The nine-week, paid, summer institute will run June 6-August 5, 2022, and provide professional development and research methods workshops designed to support students in their daily internship work and prepare them for their professional lives after college.

La-Tina L. Graham ’23, a psychology major and McNair Scholar/TRIO SSS student, and Tori A. Seigler ’24, a sociology major and EOF/TRIO SSS student, will each receive a $3,125 stipend and housing at Princeton University during the internship. The student scholars will be paired with a Princeton faculty or staff member for a research or professional internship, and maintain access to Princeton Library resources for a full year, from June 1 through May 31.

“Fourteen students from New Jersey colleges and universities were selected for the ASAP program. I am thrilled two of those cohort members represent Bloomfield College,” said McNair Scholars Program Director Beverly Fields. “We are very proud of La-Tina and Tori for their exceptional academic performance, and for receiving these competitive life-changing internship awards.”

The ASAP opportunity continues through the 2022/2023 academic year with various program activities, and mentorship at their home campus with a Bloomfield College faculty or staff member. Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs and Associate Professor of History and Africana Studies Laura Hill, Ph.D., will serve as Seigler’s Home-Campus Mentor while TRIO Student Support Services Director and Humanities Lecturer Christina Dilkes, M.A., will mentor Graham. Through these mentorships, the students will also engage in an academic-year research experience or professional internship at Bloomfield College.

As part of the ASAP award, the student interns will have access to a research or professional development portfolio of up to $1,000, to offset costs for supplies or activities related to their internship placement. They retain access to these funds for a full year, from June 1 through May 31, to support them both in their summer experience at Princeton and in their academic-year experience on their home campus. Funds may be used for books, computer equipment, printing, software/licenses, sound or video recording equipment, and conference-related costs like registration, travel or a single-year membership in a professional organization (especially as a requirement for conference presentation).

As Home-Campus Mentors, Hill and Dilkes will be designated as Princeton University Emma Bloomberg Center for Access & Opportunity Fellows. They will also receive funds for research and professional development, Princeton University library access through May 31, 2023 and engagement in ASAP programming, inclusive of participation in the ASAP Mentor Orientation in May, the Summer Symposium in August to see their student and others present, and academic-year ASAP programming. In this way, ASAP Home-Campus Mentors build their own academic and professional networks, and gain access to funds to put toward their own research or professional development while serving as points of connection between their own institutions and the ASAP program at Princeton.

“This wonderful opportunity for our Tori and La-Tina developed, in part, through a grant from Princeton University to help Bloomfield College students learn more about graduate program pathways and opportunities,” said Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of Faculty Michael A. Palladino, Ph.D.

ASAP is a cohort program at Princeton’s Emma Bloomberg Center for Access & Opportunity, designed to introduce undergraduates from other New Jersey colleges and universities to higher education careers in the humanities and qualitative social sciences. ASAP also aims to bring together ASAP interns and their home campus mentors with Princeton summer mentors to inspire cross-institutional connections. First generation and low-income students, as well as students from racial and ethnic backgrounds underrepresented in the field of the internship, among other identified student groups, are especially encouraged to apply to the program.

Students Graham and Siegler both participate in Bloomfield College’s TRIO Student Support Services (SSS) Program, a comprehensive academic support program that assists primarily first-generation, low-income, and/or disabled students navigate through higher education and graduate within six years that is funded through a TRIO grant from the U.S. Department of Education. The McNair Scholars Program, in which Graham participates, is funded by the TRIO grant, and works to prepare first-generation and income-eligible participants, and historically underrepresented students, for doctoral-level study. The Educational Opportunity Fund (EOF) Program, in which Seigler participates, is a New Jersey state-legislated support program that provides access to higher education for students who demonstrate the potential to succeed in college, but need additional academic and financial support.

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