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As the summer draws to a close, numerous Bronco students just concluded or are soon to complete productive summer internships, co-ops and other experiential-learning activities. Other students are gearing up to engage in this kind of in-the-field applied learning while taking classes during the fall or later this academic year.

At Western, we’re proud that better than 90% of our students will have taken part in at least one experiential-learning activity and many will have completed several of them by the time they graduate. These opportunities provide valuable hands-on learning, connections to mentors and often represent steppingstones to begin a career.

We take pride in our students’ experiential-learning productivity because tying excellent classroom instruction to applied experiences gives our students an incredible advantage. Experiential education effectively works in concert with formal classroom instruction to deepen learning, boost students’ confidence in their skills and abilities, confirm a chosen career path or even provide fruitful redirection to a new professional realm to explore.

And because our students don’t wait until after graduation to make a measurable mark outside the classroom, they leave Western career ready and understanding how to pursue their purpose in life. It’s no coincidence that our experiential-learning statistic is like our post-graduate success rate. Our most recent survey of graduates showed that 93% had a job or were continuing their education. Moreover, alumni who completed an internship were “three times as likely to have a job related to their degree and two times as likely to be satisfied with their job compared with peers who did not have an internship.”

That’s why I’m so pleased and grateful that we will be able to expand the experiential-learning opportunities for students thanks to the Empowering Futures Gift. As you will read on the following pages, part of that incredible $550 million contribution has been earmarked to help fund a new Paid Internship Program to support a variety of on-the-job experiences for our students.

As a result, many more students will be able to demonstrate to themselves—and future employers—their drive to seize and leverage opportunities to benefit a world that needs their talents. That’s the Bronco advantage.

Sincerely,

Edward Montgomery, Ph.D.
President