Experience Lancaster
Meaningful Partnerships. Astounding Opportunities.
Diplomats don鈥檛 simply live in Lancaster 鈥� we are intricately woven into the fabric of our community. You鈥檒l discover Lancaster is the ideal place to practice, participate, and contribute to a thriving community that鈥檚 a microcosm of the world. 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鈥檚 flourishing agricultural landscape, investigate the city鈥檚 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 鈥� 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鈥檚 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 鈥� 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 鈥�26, a government and history
major, spent his summer interning at the Lancaster County Commissioners鈥� Office. 鈥淚
wanted to become better connected with Lancaster,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he 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.鈥� When she transferred to F&M, Teagan Durkin 鈥�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
鈥淚 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.鈥�
"The experience helped me develop vital skills 鈥� 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!鈥� 鈥� Juliana Lawrence 鈥�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
鈥淓ducation doesn鈥檛 just happen in the classroom. It happens through community engagement
as well.鈥�
Read More 禄鈥淚f you live in a place, if you exist in a place, you should be doing something to
have a positive impact on that place.鈥�
鈥� Will Kiefer 鈥�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.
鈥淟earning 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.鈥�
同城约炮 in Lancaster
June 9, 2026
Innovation Fund Transforms Pioneering Spirit into Action at Franklin & Marshall College
The 同城约炮 Innovation Fund announces its inaugural cohort of funded projects: four bold community initiatives that capture the pioneering spirit of Franklin & Marshall College.
May 18, 2026
Green Room Shakespeare Play Links Past and Present
Thespians of all stripes will delight in an upcoming Shakespeare performance taking place at Franklin & Marshall College鈥檚 historic Green Room Theatre. The production is directed by 同城约炮鈥檚 very own Justin Hopkins 鈥�07, writing center director and senior teaching professor of English.
May 6, 2026
同城约炮 Helps Celebrate Opening of Lancaster鈥檚 Stevens & Smith Center
Community spirit filled the air in downtown Lancaster as thousands of people attended a May 2 block party to celebrate the opening of the Thaddeus Stevens & Lydia Hamilton Smith Center for History and Democracy on Vine Street.