Title:Opening doors to summer experiential learning opportunities

For many college students, summer is a time to gain valuable professional experience through internships, fellowships, and other career-related activities. However, many of those opportunities are unpaid, or come with significant living costs, creating barriers for low-income and first-generation college students.

Seeking to broaden access to meaningful summer internships and other workforce opportunities, Georgetown alumna Shakila Guevara Stahl (B’15) and her husband, Dr. Stephen Stahl, established the Stahl Summer Scholars Program Fund in 2024. Through the fund, Georgetown offers up to $10,000 for a summer experiential learning opportunity to five rising seniors in the Georgetown Scholars Program (GSP), which provides comprehensive wraparound support for low-income, first-generation college students and recently celebrated its 20th anniversary.

Stahl—herself a GSP alumna—says the gift was intended to unlock opportunities that students could not otherwise pursue without financial support, helping to ensure that every Hoya can participate fully in their college experience and thrive well beyond their time at Georgetown. The Summer Scholars Program, she says, is “really for a longer-term trajectory, to build up first-generation Hoyas to be successful right in their life after Georgetown.”

Crucial professional development

Through the Stahls’ generous gift—the first-ever seven-figure gift to Georgetown from a GSP graduate—the fund has now supported 10 Stahl Summer Scholars pursuing domestic or international opportunities, including modestly paid or unpaid internships, research, and other professional development opportunities that have the potential to be consequential and significant to students’ future careers, networking, and/or scholarship. Students receive the resources they need to invest their time in creating social capital, or quality professional networks that lead to career success and economic mobility.

Building on 20 years of wraparound support

GSP leaders say the awards provided by the Stahl Summer Scholars Program have been instrumental in advancing the program’s mission to create a more equitable college experience for first-generation and low-income college students.

“Shakila and Stephen’s generosity, inspired by her own experience as a first-gen undergraduate student, is opening the door for even more students to participate in life-changing professional development opportunities over the summer, without undue financial pressure,” says Missy Foy (C’03), executive director of GSP. “Last year’s Stahl Scholars took full advantage of the opportunity, and I think the entire experience gave them a considerable advantage over their peers when it came to making their post-grad plans. We’re eternally grateful to the Stahls for this incredible gift, and we have been elated to share with our students that it’s a graduate of this special first gen community who made this gift.”

GSP is now entering its third decade, having served more than 2,600 students since its launch in 2004. The program provides programming and resources that nurture a thriving community and connect scholars to an active alumni network, mentors, and peers. GSP seeks to demystify the unspoken expectations of higher education, offering a three-credit course called Mastering the Hidden Curriculum, which equips students to navigate the college environment, empowers them to pursue their academic and career goals, and allows them to have a deeper understanding of their own identities. And, recognizing that first-generation students may face especially complex financial challenges in their post-grad life, GSP has developed a second course for those nearing college graduation.

Through a Necessity Fund, GSP also distributes several thousand microgrants annually to students encountering unexpected, out-of-pocket expenses such as medical co-pays, grocery costs during breaks, mental health services, and travel home during the first year. Other microgrants offset professional development expenses, such as conference, testing, and application fees; professional attire; and travel to interviews.

GSP is one of several complementary programs Georgetown has developed to support students in fully embracing their college experience. Approximately half of the GSP student community also has the opportunity to participate in the Community Scholars Program, which provides first-generation college students with academic support, starting with a five-week, in-residence program the summer before students’ first year. The Community Scholars Program is poised to have an even more significant role at Georgetown as the university continues to expand its enrollment of limited-income students.

Increasing access to co-curricular experiences

Donor support has been critical to ensuring that co-curricular experiences remain a cornerstone of a Georgetown education for all Hoyas. In addition to the Stahl Summer Scholars Awards, Georgetown undergraduate students pursuing experiential learning opportunities can be considered for the Penner Family Experiences Award, which was established and augmented through the generosity of the Penner Family Foundation and allows undergraduates, many of whom are first-generation college students, to travel abroad, work at unpaid internships, engage in meaningful research, and participate in extracurricular service projects in the Washington, DC, community.

The Idol Family Fellowship Program, expanded in 2020 with a gift from the Idol Family Foundation, is another way Georgetown University provides financial and programmatic support to first-generation and low-income students as they participate in full-time summer internships in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area. In collaboration with The Capitol Applied Learning Labs (the CALL), the program provides fellows with housing and a stipend to cover summer expenses, connecting them with a supportive community, professional development programming, and networking opportunities.

“These generous gifts have dramatically expanded the summer opportunities for students in recent years, so they are more likely to be able to take full advantage of the unique career development and networking Georgetown offers,” Foy says.