Chaplaincy Internship
Good evening,
First, I just want to say how wonderful it was to have St Salvator’s Chapel Choir back at full (or nearly full) strength this morning, singing beautiful music by Frank Martin and James MacMillan. And an intriguing sermon on trust by Professor Rachel Muers, now of Leeds University, but newly appointed as Chair of Divinity at Edinburgh. If you’d like to catch the service, the livestream is found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gUXqEk3M5o&list=PLkZBIZv_vTvnOyaMIGVwddrC1u_atfxxP&index=2
I’m also writing to say that the Chaplaincy has created an opportunity for summer work which is available to apply for through the Summer Internship Scheme run by the University Careers Centre. The Summer Internship Scheme runs from 30 May to 2 September 2022 and provides a challenging and paid work experience within a professional service unit of the University of St Andrews for undergraduates, after their second year of a four-year degree, or after the third year of a five-year degree. This paid work experience will allow students to gain transferable skills and experiences, enhance personal development and increase future employability.
The Chaplaincy role is Spiritual Quotations Digitisation
Since beginning work in ministry, 25 years ago, I have kept a card-index file of quotations. When I come across an interesting expression, sentence or thought in fiction, non-fiction, newspapers, in-flight magazines etc. I write it on to a card, or photocopy and literally cut and paste it. I then use these quotations in talks, sermons, addresses, blogposts and articles. Some of the quotations are clearly on religious subjects – most are not, but the overall collection has a clear spiritual direction. Over the years, the collection has moved into increasingly large boxes. To give a flavour, the letter P has 57 cards covering over 40 topics, from Paganism, to Pain, Paradise, Parents, Passion, Past, Pastoral care and Patriotism, finishing with Psychiatry, Psychoanalysis, Public Speaking, Purgatory and Purpose.
The opportunity for this intern is to digitise this unique collection, for a number of reasons. First, so that it can be protected for future use from accident, damage or loss. Moreover, once digitised, it can be made available across the Chaplaincy team of different faiths and philosophies of life, and not merely to me. Furthermore, once digitised, it will be searchable. (At present a quotation can only be found according to the heading it is placed under.) The digitised collection will be a significantly more accessible resource.
The core task of digitisation will be typing the quotations into a digital format. But in addition, we would like the intern to choose certain quotations from the collection for printing and putting on the walls of certain rooms in the Chaplaincy building to enhance the experience of students, staff and others who use the building. Moreover, the intern would be expected to post intriguing finds on the Chaplaincy’s facebook page. The end of the project would take the form of a presentation of quotations which the intern found particularly interesting, provocative, amusing or even life-changing, to the Chaplaincy team and a wider audience. We are open to other ways the intern may suggest as to sharing wisdom from the collection more widely.
The intern would work in the Chaplaincy building, as the collection cannot leave University property. We would expect the intern to share in coffee breaks with the Chaplaincy staff, attend weekly staff meetings and become exposed to a busy, friendly University office environment.
Application deadline: Monday 21 February 2022
For more details on the scheme and application form, see https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/…/summer-internship-scheme/
And while I’m writing, I hope you have a happy Valentine’s Day tomorrow.
Yours,
Donald.