Leadership Shadow Practicum Student Resources
As part of the capstone course, LSM students have a unique opportunity to observe leaders in action via a semester-long practicum with a local, national, or global program or organization.
Unlike a traditional practicum, the LSM practicum requires students to meet with a community stakeholder who is addressing social issues that most resonate with them and then observe that leader (or colleagues) in a real-world setting. Students thereby not only consider leadership within a particular context but also strategies employed to address a particular social issue. Partnering organizations have ranged from local citizen-led coalitions to multinational organizations.
Recent Community Partners:
- Bridge of Hope
- Boulder County District Attorney’s Office
- Boulder County Public Health
- California Immigrant Policy Center
- City of Boulder
- City of Lafayette
- Colorado Coalition against Sexual Assault
- Colorado Energy
- Colorado Immigrants Rights Coalition
- CU Environmental Center
- Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace & Security
- John Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research
- Moms Demand Action
- Moving to End Sexual Assault
- NAACP of Boulder County
- Reintegra
- Safehouse Progressive Alliance for Nonviolence
- Sister Carmen Community Center
- Thorne Nature Experience
Adopting a collective impact approach, the LSM team welcomes new community partnerships. Interested agencies/organizations are encouraged to contact: verveer@colorado.edu
Shadowing Practicum Process:
Once students have identified a social issue to address and formed corresponding cohorts (of two to five students), they consider organizations or programs with which they’d like to partner, either cultivating a new relationship or tapping their respective affiliations.
To form a community and foster common understanding, the practicum experience commences with an informal orientation between student cohorts and their practicum liaison. In addition, students use this initial meeting to create a schedule of subsequent shadowing opportunities.
(Students are required to participate in five observations during the course of the semester; observations may be in person or remote and are approximately an hour in length.) ​​​These visits could take place during staff meetings, board meetings, special events, programming, etc., and maybe with different leaders within the organization.
Students will be responsible for completing a practicum memo immediately following each observation. As a culmination, students will present lessons learned and acknowledge their community partners during a poster session at the end of the semester.
Resources:
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*Observation Memorandum
*Practicum Posters