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Home and Family Internships

Completing an internship will be a benefit to all students in several ways, and allows for students to gain valuable experiences before heading into the workforce.
Mom and daughter.

Grant Money for Internships

You may be eligible to receive an Internship Grant to help with your internship expenses. To view the eligibility requirements and to apply, visit the Financial Aid Internship Grants page.

Purpose

Completing an internship will be a benefit to you in several ways including:

  • Prepare you for future job opportunities
  • Allow you to "test drive" a career you are interested in
  • Get your foot in the door of a company you would like to work for
  • Provide you with a guided work experience
  • Give students an opportunity to apply what they have learned in their major classes
Steps to Acquiring an Internship
Step 1: Expectations
Step 2: Find an Internship
Step 3: Internship Approval
Step 1: Expectations
Step 2: Find an Internship
Step 3: Internship Approval
Step 1: Expectations
Step 2: Find an Internship
Step 3: Internship Approval

Step 1: Expectations

General Requirements

Your internship should allow you to learn more about working with or in behalf of couples, or whole families. It should also allow you to use the skills you have learned in your classes within your major.

Time Requirements

Your internship needs to be equivalent to 2 credits at 80 hours each. This means that your internship must be at least 160 hours of work experience. Your internship must also be spread across at least 7 to 8 weeks and may begin within 2 weeks of the beginning of the semester if an early start is requested and approved on your application. For example, you may start your internship 2 weeks before the semester starts (but no sooner). Your internship must end by the last day of the semester. Internships that do not meet these criteria will not be approved. (The cost of the internship course is equivalent to the tuition cost of 1 credit.)

Online Internships

The Roelofs stand together on campus

As a rule, the University does not approve online internships. However, as an exception to that rule marriage and family students have been authorized to complete an online internship so long as it is able to meet the rigor and purpose of on-site internships. Therefore, if you choose to complete an online internship, please review this message from the Academic Advising:

I understand that your internship will not be on-site with your employer. As the one-to-one interaction, mentoring, and feedback that would be expected in an on-site experience are key to the value of an internship, remote internships are not typically approved. When you complete the application through Career Navigator, please respond with the following information in the Job Description portion of your application so we can assess whether your situation may warrant a waiver of the policy:

  • Method of supervision
  • Frequency of interaction with supervisor
  • How internship expectations are established
  • How work is assigned
  • How work is evaluated
  • How feedback is given

If the responses to these questions are not adequate to provide an appropriate internship experience, the internship application will be denied.

Course Requirements

Once enrolled in the course for your internship, you will need to complete the following tasks:

  • Define your goals and objectives for your internship
  • Complete weekly journals using I-Learn
  • Write a final report that assesses what you have learned or accomplished

Check the course syllabus for other minor tasks that must be complete as part of your internship.

Step 2: Find an Internship

Student teaches a child in the Toddler Lab

Working for Families

The focus here is that the work you do in your internship will not involve physically being with families, but instead take on a more indirect approach. Internships and careers that allow you to work for families can provide experiences where you are advocating, researching, or participating in identification work regarding issues related to family science and similar fields.

Working with Families

Internships that allow you to work with families give you more hands-on experience. Examples include working at organizations that help families, clinics, and other family related services. Specific areas of working with families can include:

  • Individuals
  • Couples
  • Families

(Working at a daycare or preschool facility is NOT an approvable internship for marriage and family studies students.)

Find an Internship

Below is a small sample of internships available to you. However, this list does not contain all possible internships. In most communities, there are many potential internships. Feel free to look for other opportunities that meet the basic requirements mentioned in the “Step 1: Expectations” section of this site.

Step 3: Internship Approval

Self Check

Before submitting your internship for approval, ask yourself the following questions to determine if you have chosen an appropriate internship:

  • Have you complete the courses for the Advanced Marriage & Family Functioning Certificate? These upper level courses are required before you can register for internship hours.
  • Will the majority of your time in your internship be spent doing things "directly related" to Marriage and Family Studies?
  • Will your internship provide you an opportunity to apply skills and knowledge learned from your experience in the Marriage and Family Studies program?
  • During your internship experience will you receive valuable instruction and guidance from a qualified mentor or supervisor? (If it has not been approved yet, contact the internship coordinator and go through the Master Agreement).
  • Will your internship offer you the opportunity to complete at least 160 hours, working at least 10 hours a week over the course of at least 7 weeks?

Registration Process

Family Consumer Science majors helping with the 4H camp at the Madison County Fairgrounds.

Once you have secured an internship, you must submit an internship application. When your application is approved, you must register for the correct internship Canvas course. Please follow these instructions. You will NOT be registered or receive credit for your experience until all steps are completed. If you are aware of other students who have registered this internship before, there will be no need for you to talk to the internship coordinator before submitting your internship application. If the internship has never been done by students in this major, then you will need to communicate with the internship coordinator.

  1. Go to the Internship Approval Webpage.
  2. Click on the career navigator link and log in with your BYU-I username and password. (If you have not yet completed a profile for career navigator, simply follow the steps to do so.)
  3. From the "quick links" bar at the top of the page, hover over profile and click internships from the drop-down options.
  4. Select "add new experience" if you have never done an internship prior. If you have, then select "add new."
  5. Fill out form with all necessary information. If you do not have all the information on hand you can "save as draft" and continue at a later time. Once your internship has been approved, you will be notified by Career Services. If the internship is approved, you will then be able to enroll.
  6. Enroll in FAML 498R. Once you have access to FAML 498R, you may begin to complete your internship hours/experience.

Questions regarding this process may be directed to internships@byui.edu or 208-496-9827.

Information on the general internship process may also be found at byui.edu/internships.

This process can take anywhere from several days to several weeks, depending on the number of applications a Coordinator is processing. Please be mindful of this as you are making your preparations. If your internship provider has never worked with BYU-I prior to your experience with them, they will need to fill out a master agreement form with the school (Speak to the coordinator about this).

For more help and questions, please contact your Internship Coordinators

Apparel Entrepreneurship Internships
Cheryl Empey | empeyc@byui.edu

Marriage and Family Studies
Internship & Career Office | familyinternships@byui.edu | 208-496-9825
Betsy Montoya | montoyae@byui.edu

Child Development
Tom Rane | ranet@byui.edu
General questions can also be answered by Kelly McCoy | mccoyk@byui.edu

Family and Consumer Science
Cheryl Empey | empeyc@byui.edu