March 18, 2025

At Bennington, students spend six weeks every year taking their skills and knowledge out of the classroom and applying them in the world of work. They use this annual work-learning opportunity—known as Field Work Term—to deepen their studies, challenge and test new ideas, and hone their direction for the future.

How did your Field Work Term relate to (or diverge from!) your studies at Bennington?

My Field Work Term was definitely relevant to the general area of psychology, but it was a lot more closely related to developmental and even industrial and organizational psychology than to my particular focus.

I worked as the Division Director of Curriculum Development at Resilience, Inc, a non-profit focused on promoting Social and Emotional Learning throughout the school system. I was promoted to this position from outreach intern shortly into my Field Work Term.

What did a typical day at your Field Work Term site look like? 

Since this was a remote management position, most of my days were pretty relaxed! I worked from home from 10:00 am–5:00 pm, and generally I was on the couch with my dog and my laptop. I usually had at least one call or Zoom meeting every day, either with my supervisor(s) so I could learn what we needed to work on, members of my team so I could figure out where we were on existing projects, or leaders of other divisions so we could all work together.

I spent the rest of my day emailing and messaging back and forth with those same people, organizing our existing documents and materials so they were easier to find and access for everyone, and looking through the academic literature for anything that might be relevant or useful in making and pitching or communicating our curriculum to parents, schools, and lawmakers.

What surprised or challenged you the most about your position?

I didn't go into this Field Work Term expecting to be in a management position, and even though I jumped at the opportunity when it presented itself, I don't know that I was exactly prepared!

Communication in that role was definitely the thing I found the most challenging this Field Work Term. Learning how to translate things between different groups, mediate stressful situations, and keep everything running smoothly was an exciting challenge, and one that I'm glad I took on!

What do you hope to do in the future—for your next Field Work Term and beyond Bennington?

For my next Field Work Term, I hope to intern in a psych research lab to get some hands-on experience before I start applying to graduate programs.