Family Science and Community-Based Learning: Using Speed Networking

Students in Family Science often feel that they have an uphill battle to finding career opportunities that maximize their experiences from degree programs. The hallmark of successful programs in Family Science needs to be the development and maintenance of high-quality field experiences for students that align with national standards and competencies in the field. This paper focuses on Speed Networking, events that programs can use to match students with various community partners for communitybased learning experiences (e.g., internships, practicum) and possible career placement following graduation. Several programmatic strategies for obtaining high quality partnerships and student responses to these varied experiences are discussed.