For Gustavus students who are worried that they can’t afford to do a low-paying internship or take a career-focused class outside the College, the Engaged Learning Fund (ELF) provides invaluable assistance.
Funded by alumni donors and administered by the Center for Career Development, the ELF provides up to $1500 for every Gustavus student during their time on the Hill. The money can be used for anything from housing and transportation costs to fees for conferences and career-related experiences that aren’t offered at Gustavus. The internships, job shadowing, volunteer work, and other experiential learning opportunities must be applicable to the student’s major and career objectives.
“It’s about getting students off the Hill so they can see the outside world and making sure that those opportunities are available to any student,” said Julie Rudolf, Senior Career Development Specialist. “We don’t want students to pass up opportunities because they can’t afford the unpaid or underpaid internship. This helps offset some of that burden.”
Sunny Rijal ’25 used his ELF award to cover housing and transportation costs in the Twin Cities, which enabled him to accept an internship with WEG Electric Machinery Company in Minneapolis, working on supply chain logistics. As a Business and Economics major who’s just starting out, he’s most interested in getting a broad range of knowledge in a variety of sectors. “I got the internship with the help of a Gustavus alum, and they didn’t have a fixed job for me because I was the first intern working in that purchasing department,” Rijal said. “I did a bit of everything, from processing orders to entering them into the SAP system and making Excel reports from that. So, the internship taught me the basics of everything they do in that department.”
He added that, regardless of whether he ends up working in WEG’s sector, the entire experience benefitted him in multiple ways. “It helped me build my professional confidence around reaching out to people and using the resources I have,” he said. “I didn’t have as many interests [before college] when I was back home in Nepal, but now I realize that I have a wide range of interests.”
Since its inception in 2020, the ELF has served almost 250 Gusties secure about $380,000 in total aid. It’s available to all Gustavus students, regardless of their overall financial aid situation, and Rudolf encourages anyone who wants to pursue a compelling professional opportunity to apply for the grant.