Students describe internships, civic projects at Frick Center presentation

Students from the Frick Center presented to the board about a year-long forum course that pairs civic learning with internships and service projects. Lisonbee Bridal, the Frick Center program coordinator, introduced the founding Frick Fellows and explained the course structure: seven civic learning branches, site visits, guest speakers and a student-driven internship in the second semester.

Students Lucinda Thorne, Austin Minnet and Juliette Mueller described internships ranging from social-media and outreach work for the League of Women Voters to legislative tracking with the mayor's office and attending college-level classes at WashU. Lucinda said her League work focused on translating civic topics for younger audiences and accessibility in voter information; Austin and Juliette highlighted site visits to the county courthouse, wastewater plant and the Federal Reserve Bank that helped them connect civic careers to community impacts.

The students also shared a community-engagement project addressing student drug use at Webster Groves High School. They described designing surveys and interviews, building a research proposal and planning to present findings and recommendations to stakeholders. Board members praised the program and asked about scalability, recruitment and outreach to younger grades. The coordinator described efforts to market the program across government classes and a pilot after-school program (Youth to Lead) for middle grades.

Board members asked about widening participation and using the model as a regional offering; students and staff expressed support for bringing other districts into the program. The board thanked students for their presentations and said they would be considered trusted voices in future program planning.