Local Hero

"The Nuts and Bolts of Policy"

The College's Nancy Boehm-Coster Public Policy Career Encouragement Program, now in its third year, offers stipends for undergraduates taking non-paying internships, but with a twist public policy must be a part of the internship.

Refugee camps in Uganda, AIDS-prevention clinics in Manhattan, and tree-planting non-profits in lowa have beefited from some of the nearly 30 Boehm-Coster fellows.

"The nuts and bolts, the implementation on policy, opens your eyes immediately," savs Chris Nybo '99, who worked at public housing units with Chicago's Poverty Law Project. "But I also had to grasp broader policy problems and solutions and ask, how did it get this way?"

Lia Monahon '98, who worked at the Massachusetts Commission Against Dis- crimination, agrees: "The Boehm forced me to think about theoretical issues and gave me a wonderful excuse to ask questions."

Robert Boehm '35 organized the fellowship to memorialize his daughter. He makes written comments on fellows' mid-term and final reports and meets them at an annual spring dinner.

"I want to help guide careers and round out undergraduate years," says Boehm. "You learn by thinking and by doing."

A Boehm-Coster grant allowed Sara Zrike '99 back row, third from left, to research parental involvement in the Boston inner city schools.