Housing is a common challenge for students doing internships and externships. If a student pursues an opportunity that does not allow them to live at home, where will they stay? In the Discovery Externship Program, students have traditionally lived with the alum hosting the externship job opportunity, leading to a unique connection we call porch time.

Porch time is an evening walk. It’s a morning commute. It’s a weekend tour. It’s a dinner table conversation. It’s discussions on decks, patios, and porches. Porch time is where alum hosts and externs talk about the workday they just shared. They talk about life at K. They discuss family, neighborhoods, and communities of all kinds. They talk about politics, social change, films, food, and more. And some even talk about work as part of a bigger life.

If a student is not staying with an alum, either because the student is living at home or with another alum, the student and the workplace host will make arrangements to spend time together outside of work hours, to ensure that they get the benefits of porch time. For more information on porch time visit the externship resources page on our website.