Internships are a common part of most college students’ experience today, but for one of the first North Park University (NPU) students to create their own, it took a special amount of courage.
Kirsten (Swanson) Hilton NPC ‘77 was the daughter of a minister in the Evangelical Covenant Church and spent most of her childhood moving around for her father’s work, so when she arrived at North Park University in the fall of 1973, the stability and tight-knit community were a breath of fresh air.
“I knew I was going to know classmates because our churches had interacted, and I knew that I was going to have a handful of friends already,” said Hilton, whose parents and siblings also attended North Park. “I was also determined to graduate in four years because I had never been part of a class before, not grade school, not high school, never. I was going to complete all four years, and I was going to belong.”
Hilton’s journey at North Park is especially unique. Not only was she one of the first students at the university to major in sociology and anthropology, but she was also among the first to create her own internship path at NPU. Working with a psychology professor and academic offices to institute formal accreditation, she received college credit for a full-year off-campus internship at Covenant Children’s Home in Princeton, Illinois.
“Teachers had internships, nurses had internships, if you’re in seminary, you have an internship for a year, but my major at North Park didn’t have any,” said Hilton. “So, I wanted some practical experience to determine if it was going to be something that I enjoyed doing.”
During her internship, Hilton was responsible for a group of 25 students aged 7 to 16, for whom she took on the same responsibilities as a full-time staff member. She worked to provide children who had experienced hardship with the support and opportunities they needed to flourish academically, emotionally, socially, and spiritually.
“Here’s something I want to do [in my career], something in a helping profession,” said Hilton in a 1977 issue of the Covenant Companion, where she was featured for her internship. “It was good for me to be out on my own away from the structured atmosphere of college life.”
This position laid the groundwork for a long career of service across the country. After graduating from NPU, Hilton accepted a full-time position at Covenant Children’s Home, before eventually moving to Seattle to work at another children’s home and later taking a position at Adidas as the global operations project manager.
The lessons Hilton gleaned from both North Park and her internship have shaped her career. As she looks forward to her Golden Circle reunion this May, she is thankful for the people and culture that NPU has provided her with.
“I remember thinking, ‘How was I going to make the most of these four years and push myself in a career direction that was going to be satisfying for me?’ and I’m so grateful that North Park helped me answer that,” she said.
SHARE WITH FRIENDS