Add Verb Productions Internship Program hosts eleven graduate and undergraduate students from four universities in 2011
Since becoming a program of the University of New England in January of this year, Add Verb has been able to expand on a long history of offering rewarding opportunities for scholarship and community service to college-age youth with a wide variety of internships.
In January we were joined by College of the Atlantic senior Emmy Raviv who edited youth-written works from all over the country and helped us published Out & Allied: An Anthology of Performance Pieces written by LGBTQ Youth and Allies. She also developed outreach and publicity tools for promoting the book to a wide audience. Emmy is preparing to conclude her academic career at College of the Atlantic by spending the next semester in Israel, researching the use of performance as a tool for community awareness and growth.
This summer, Emily Cortright, Johns Hopkins junior majoring in English and Public Health Studies researched and wrote a literature review (UNE faculty Jen Morton, Nursing consulted) in support of a three year longitudinal study that is currently being conducted on our eating disorder awareness play The Thin Line. She also conducted marketing and outreach for The Thin Line and analyzed a Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that revealed startling statistics about the high levels of promiscuity, drug abuse and other risky behaviors in LGBTQ identified youth as compared to heterosexual identified youth.
UNE Department of Social Work graduate student Jill- Mary Hayes has been working on a similar literature review in support of the three year longitudinal study that is currently being conducted on our domestic violence and sexual assault intervention and prevention play You the Man. We are in our second year of the studies for both shows which are being conducted in six Maine high schools under the supervision of UNE assistant professor of Social Work Nancy Shore and the UNE Institutional Review Board.
Another summer intern, recent graduate of the Greely High School International Baccaulaureate program Emily Hill continued to work on outreach for the Anthology and further develop our relationship with the Religious Coalition Against Discrimination, with whom we will be collaborating to provide opportunities for Maine youth to create new performance pieces for the next volume of the Anthology. Emily also assisted Add Verb founder and playwright Cathy Plourde to conduct playwriting workshops with youth and faculty at the 2011 Positive Youth Development Institute at the University of Maine at Orono in July.
UNE Business and Marketing major, sophomore Piaoyang Wang Also attended the Positive Youth Development Institute. She worked with Emily Hill to develop a video trailer for the Anthology, as well as conducted marketing research, development and outreach. She mailed nearly 200 postcards to targeted individuals in support of the Anthology and posted Add Verb internship opportunities with over 100 colleges in the northeast.
Rivier College junior Business major Heather Dadiego spent the summer doing development and outreach in support of our domestic violence and sexual assault play You the Man. She represented Add Verb at the annual Maine Health Promotion Conference as well as spearheaded our rebranding efforts to bring our promotional materials into compliance with the UNE style guidelines.
This fall the five Add Verb interns and graduate assistants are all from UNE. English major and Business Marketing minor, junior Kayla Carr came to us through the College of Arts and Sciences Internship Director Cynthia Simon. Kayla is analyzing and rewriting Add Verb’s audience and client handouts for both You the Man and The Thin Line. These shows and their associated materials are designed to educate and empower bystanders, and they tour nationwide to high schools and college throughout the school year. Kayla will also help to lead Out & Allied writing workshops, cultivating new works for Volume II.
Psychology and English major, junior Julia Rich and Sociology and Psychology double major, junior Brett Peterson have been placed with Add Verb in fulfillment of their required internship for the Psychology major. Julia will be researching, interviewing and compiling materials for a new Add Verb play on young men's sexuality and attitudes around violence toward women that is designed specifically for college audiences. Brett is hard at work preparing performance pieces from the Anthology for presentation during an upcoming meeting of the Gay Straight Trans Alliance (GSTA) network, and our Biddeford campus book launch on October 17th. Brett will also be continuing our community outreach with the Religious Coalition Against Discrimination as well as analyzing our current use of social media, and developing strategies for improvement.
Finally, Masters of Social Work Graduate Students Carin Stromgren and Elisa Orme will lead and transcribe high school group discussions being conducted this year as part of the three year longitudinal study that is under way in Maine on our two primary shows, The Thin Line and You the Man.
We are currently accepting applications from students interested in spring and summer 2012 internships or research opportunities with Add Verb. A full list of current projects can be found on our website at http://www.addverbproductions.org/donate_now/internship-opportunities/ or through the UNE College of Arts and Sciences Student Research Opportunities page http://www.une.edu/cas/research/projects/opportunities.cfm. Add Verb internships are also listed with many universities in the northeast, including Bowdoin, Dartmouth, Tufts and Wellesley.