Posts tagged field work

My father is extremely wary regarding my desire to study philosophy/communications in college (that is the current plan, anyways)- I was trying to explain to him that all hope for a career in my future is, in fact, not lost, particularly with things like FWT at Bennington. Do you know of any examples of FWTs that students with humanities-focused plans have gone on? Thank you! — Asked by Anonymous

Here’s some examples I came up with off the top of my head:

  • Jason ‘13 studies philosophy, political science, and radio and spent last FWT (or maybe it was two FWTs ago?) at This I Believe.
  • Mike ‘14 studies a combination of politics, video, and public action and spent last FWT working with VT State Representative Brian Campion on his re-election campaign for the fall. 
  • Victoria ‘13 studies public history and spent this past FWT at the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation as a research intern.
  • Kevin ‘13 studies politics, law, and philosophy and spent one of his FWTs working for the Orlando District Attorney’s Office.

So that’s just a small sampling, but I hope it helps to give you an idea of what the possibilities are for social science/humanities-based Plans. There are, of course, many other possibilities - being assistant to a psychiatrist; helping philosophers do research; even independent study projects of your own. The humanities have a broad reach and you could do a lot of exploration over four years’ worth of FWTs.

-Evan ‘13

If I attended Bennington with a focus on English, where are some possible places I'd work during the FWT? — Asked by Anonymous

Here are some places that friends and acquaintances of mine have interned for FWT over the past few years:

Now, this is in no way a comprehensive list of English-related FWT positions, but then I suppose further questions would be up to you: what do you want to do? Are you interested in creative writing? Journalism? The English language itself? It might be that you don’t know yet; and that’s the beauty of FWT. It’s a really great way to learn more about yourself, and figure out just what it is that ‘English’ means to you.

-Evan ‘13

I sort of have this fear that planning FWT is the most stressful endeavor a student can experience. Which it can't be since Bennington students successfully complete them all the time. But I'm scared. On the website it is mentioned that housing is the responsibility of the student. I'm wondering based on your experiences, how difficult and expensive that might be? — Asked by Anonymous

Oh don’t get me wrong, planning for FWT is DEFINITELY stressful, but it’s also something you totally get used to. The FWT Office is great at helping students find jobs in any number of fields, and they can also help you get started with looking for housing and transport. Your fellow students are also a great resource for ideas - people get pretty creative with working out living arrangements sometimes. 

In my experiences, I’ve actually never had to secure my own housing in terms of leasing an apartment or something. My first year, I did a FWT back at home in Syracuse, NY and commuted from my house; my second job was at an elephant sanctuary in middle-of-nowhere, AR and there was free housing on-site for interns; and this past year I was doing an independent study while staying in Bennington, so I was able to get housing on campus. I would say that’s probably not representative of most students’ experiences though; I know places like NYC and LA are pretty popular destinations, and in those instances I think it’s pretty common for students to group together in groups of like 5 or 6 and sublet apartments from Craigslist or places like that. Then there’s also the option of couch-sharing - say your friend is from LA and you’re doing FWT there, with a little networking you can always try to work something out. Bottom line is, there are any number of options for housing over FWT, and you’ll explore a lot of them in the course of your four years here. It’s definitely challenging, but rarely prohibitive. I hope this helps, and if you have any other specific questions about FWT, don’t hesitate to ask!

-Evan ‘13 

FWTs past and present

We had a question about FWT experiences - where we’ve worked; if we enjoyed them; how they prepared us for life in the real world; whether or not we didn’t like certain jobs, etc. My answer ended up being super long, and the stupid ‘read more’ html isn’t working properly on my answer, so I just figured I’d make a post and the other interns can add their two cents if they wanna!

In the past I have:

  • Worked for the Syracuse Peace Council in Syracuse, NY doing research on hydrofracking and its effect on the environment.
  • Worked at Riddle’s Elephant Sanctuary in Guy, AR as a farmhand and observing elephant training and social behavior.
  • Done an independent study in Bennington, VT on my senior work project, which involved reading a lot of scientific articles about chemoreception and slavemaking in boreal ant colonies.

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