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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
• babyÖ±²¥app Coalition against Sexual Assault
• babyÖ±²¥app Energy 
• babyÖ±²¥app 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