FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- The Fayetteville Public Education Foundation's board of directors gives the APPLE Award -- which stands for A Patron Providing Leadership by Example-- to individuals or groups who have gone above and beyond in supporting the foundation and its mission. The School of Social Work was chosen for the exceptional work of social work interns placed at the foundation.

Clinical assistant professor and director of field education, Sara Collie, has made great strides in locating "non-traditional" placements for both undergraduate and graduate student interns. Through her outreach efforts, interns were first placed at the Fayetteville Public Education Foundation in May, 2013; 8 students have completed internships at the foundation since then.

Interns have contributed exponentially to community awareness, donor cultivation and resource allocation for programs and assets in the public schools. Other tasks completed by interns include: research, development, and submission of grant proposals; needs assessments, creating and maintaining documentation for grant proposal submissions, awards, and reports; assisting with donor acknowledgement programs; lawmaker education, including developing and maintaining good working relationships with local, state and federal legislators; working in cooperative relationships with national, regional and community partners for policy advocacy and grassroots mobilization; collaborating with community partnerships; and community outreach and education engagements at targeted public events.

School of Social Work attendees at the foundation's Celebration of Excellence were Sara Collie, Glenda House, Britney Queen, Stephanie Kessler, Shaun Mauk and Kameri Christy. Fayetteville Public School's grant awards and Fayetteville High School scholarship recipients were also honored at the annual event, which was held at the Arkansas Air Museum in Fayetteville.