Three UALR students will each complete eight-week internships in other parts of the country this summer as part of their study of poverty in the United States.

Sophomores Elvie Pearson, Victoria Medina, and Caprice Phillips are all enrolled in the UALR Shepherd Poverty Studies Program and active in the UALR Friday Fellows Program, which provides students leadership experience through service work.

Pearson, an international studies and Spanish major, will work with staff and volunteers in the Peter Paul Development Center in Richmond, Va. The program serves children and seniors in Richmond’s East End by enhancing academic achievement, cultural enrichment, and self sufficiency. Pearson is a graduate of Beebe High School.

Medina is majoring in political science and international studies and will work in the LIFT project in Washington, D.C. The project combats multi-generational poverty by helping community residents achieve economic stability and secure safe housing. Medina is from Dermott and a graduate of McGehee High School

Phillips, a physics major, will spend her eight-week summer internship with Camp Interactive in New York. The organization, now in its 10th year, seeks to empower inner-city youth in the Bronx through outdoor adventures and creative use of technology. Phillips graduated from Hot Springs High School.

UALR is a charter member of the Shepherd Poverty Consortium. The headquarters are located at Washington & Lee University in Lexington, Va.

Twenty universities, mostly in the eastern half of the United States, are members of the consortium. Pearson, Medina, and Phillips will join more than 70 students from those universities serving in poverty studies-related internships this summer.

The UALR program is underwritten by the Morris Foundation of Hot Springs and headed by Vice Chancellor Bill Walker and Associate Vice Chancellor Joni Lee, both of University Advancement.

Dr. David Sink, professor in the UALR Institute of Government, and Betsy Hart, director of the UALR Office of Community Engagement, are administrators of the program.