Experience Lancaster
Meaningful Partnerships. Astounding Opportunities.
Diplomats don’t simply live in Lancaster — we are intricately woven into the fabric of our community. Experience Lancaster, a program distinct to F&M, curates and connects you with opportunities to engage in internships, service, research, and more so you can make an impact in your own backyard.
Research & Community Based Learning
Lancaster is a living laboratory, featuring abundant research and learning opportunities across a variety of disciplines. Your professors work with Experience Lancaster to team up with local businesses and bring real-world problems into the classroom. You can study Lancaster’s flourishing agricultural landscape, investigate the city’s historical roots, examine city health and wellness challenges, and much more.
Amplifying Local Grower Voices Amid Climate Change
Associate Professor of Environmental Studies Eric Hirsch is the recipient of a $500,000 grant from the Mellon Foundation to lead a transformative three-year research initiative. With the assistance of student researchers, the project will collect and preserve 500 oral histories from growers across Pennsylvania — stories that reflect how communities are adapting to climate change, economic pressures and the growth of solar energy in agriculture.
Uncovering Lancaster's Secret Side
Curious about the more salacious side of Lancaster in the 1910s? Alongside Alison Kibler, professor of American studies and women's, gender & sexuality studies, two students researched and developed a walking tour surrounding Lancaster in America's progressive era, a time of intense social and political reform.
Measuring the Performance of Lancaster City’s Rain Gardens
A group of students trekked into Lancaster City for a unique research opportunity: measuring the performance of the city's rain gardens, an environmentally friendly installation designed to counteract the sometimes damaging effects of stormwater runoff.
Internships
Lancaster is plentiful with internship possibilities spanning a wide range of industries — and Experience Lancaster and our Center for Career and Professional Development will help you discover and land those positions. We proactively build and nurture connections with Lancaster-based businesses, F&M alumni, and parents and friends of the College to cultivate a wide range of internship opportunities that allow you to explore careers of interest and enrich your academic journey.
Moana Franco '25 spent her summer working with The Edible Classroom, a Lancaster-based
nonprofit that partners with schools and communities to create educational gardens.
Franco worked as an educator at one of The Edible Classroom's summer camps. Following a passion for public service, Ethan Grabowski ’26, a government and history
major, spent his summer interning at the Lancaster County Commissioners’ Office. “I
wanted to become better connected with Lancaster,” he said. “The internship offered
me not just the opportunity to be here for a summer, but to meet many different community
leaders in the city and learn more about what makes the county as a whole so special.” When she transferred to F&M, Teagan Durkin ’26 set a goal to become further immersed
in LGBTQIA+ culture and community. This summer, she achieved both by interning with
Lancaster Pride and helping plan a record-breaking festival.Transforming Gardens into Classrooms
A Summer Internship with Local Government
Planning a Record-Breaking Lancaster Pride Festival
“I interned at a local company, thanks to an alum who was working there at the time. That turned into my first full-time job after college.”
"The experience helped me develop vital skills — specifically in marketing, but also just general professional skills. My longest-running work is actually with an F&M alum I met through my first job after college and has since started their own company!” — Juliana Lawrence ’17
Service & Volunteering
Explore what it means to be a thoughtful and active member of the Lancaster community. Experience Lancaster and F&M's Ware Institute for Civic Engagement partner with Lancaster community benefit organizations, government agencies, and K-12 schools to create meaningful off-campus opportunities. The Diplomat impact can be spotted everywhere, from city stormwater gardens built by students to Lancaster-based businesses and nonprofits started by alumni.
The Center for the Sustainable Environment and the Ware Institute collaborated to
plant 80 trees on F&M's Baker Campus, contributing to Lancaster's greater sustainability
efforts. With paint brushes and mulch in hand, students brightened the nearby Buchanan Park,
giving the dog park bridge a fresh coat of color and spreading new mulch on the children's
play area. West Art, a living room for Lancaster and a sanctuary for all things art, got a boost
of Diplomat energy when a group of students contributed their efforts to painting,
yard maintenance, cleaning, and other essential tasks.Rooting for a Greener Lancaster
Brightening Buchanan Park
Supporting Lancaster's Art Sanctuary
“Education doesn’t just happen in the classroom. It happens through community engagement
as well.”
— Shayra Nunez, 2025 Williamson Medalist
Read More »“If you live in a place, if you exist in a place, you should be doing something to
have a positive impact on that place.”
“My advice to all F&M students and local alumni: dive right into something. Get involved
in a local initiative that means something to you. Don’t sit on the sidelines. Just
sign yourself up, show up, learn as you go, and offer suggestions for improvement
when you can. The F&M community is wonderful, but the Lancaster community is even
better. Get to know the real Lancaster City. Don’t just ‘study it,’ become a part
of it and your F&M experience will be 10x better.”
— Will Kiefer ’14, founder of the Lancaster nonprofit Bench Mark Program, an organization
that uses exercise, academic support, and career counseling to propel at-risk youth
toward successful futures.
Discover & Explore
Uncover the dynamic offerings of our renaissance city. Experience Lancaster orchestrates monthly excursions to local sites of historical and cultural value, so you can develop an intimate appreciation of Lancaster as a historic town and lively city.
“Learning in Lancaster allows me to not only have endless opportunities to experience
things that I love learning about in a hands-on manner, but it also lets me form connections
with people outside of F&M.”
— Kaitlyn Stauffer '24
F&M in Lancaster
March 27, 2025
Make the Most of Your Spring Visit to F&M
When you become an F&M Diplomat, your college experience will extend beyond our campus and into the vibrant city of Lancaster. If you’re planning a visit to campus this spring, add a stop at one of our favorite spots and get a glimpse of what it’s like to call Lancaster home.
January 30, 2025
F&M Trip to New Orleans Marks Two Decades of Disaster Relief
After Hurricane Katrina’s powerful winds and storm surge devastated the Gulf Coast of the United States in 2005, a group of students at Franklin & Marshall College launched an organization to support the recovery effort. Two decades later, the Catastrophic Relief Alliance (CRA) is as strong as it’s ever been—and is still working to improve lives in areas affected by America’s most costly natural disasters.
January 28, 2025
Revisiting World War II Correspondence of F&M Servicemen
In August 1943, F&M President Theodore “Prexy” Distler created a bimonthly newsletter to keep enlisted service members informed of changes on campus. The newsletters also shared welcome updates from classmates around the globe, including Richard “Dick” Luxner ’48, a member of the College’s volunteer Cadet Corps.