Turning Compassion Into Community Impact

Applause, smiles, hugs, and a group photo. That’s how the development team members of the Children’s Bereavement Center of South Texas congratulated summer intern Danielle Semine ’27 on her Summer Undergraduate Research and Internship Symposium presentation on July 23. This tight-knit group of grief support providers welcomed Semine to their team as part of Trinity University’s 10-week Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship.

“I think working at the bereavement center helped me to realize that I would love to work in a nonprofit,” she says. “It’s incredible that you get to combine skills that you’re so passionate about to create impact on a community.”

At the bereavement center, Semine’s tasks ranged from facilitating a grief support group for children using movement, art, and dance to hosting a reception for the National Symposium on Children’s Grief. Those roles were highlights of the summer, but what surprised Semine, a psychology major getting ready to begin her final year at Trinity, was that grant writing can also be fun. Grants are an important source of funding for the center to be able to offer free counseling services to children who have lost a loved one. 

“In working with grants, I learned a lot about telling a story through data and sharing about positive client outcomes,” Semine says.

Semine also had a chance to help host day camps and work at an overnight camp (Camp Heroes), all of which offer a chance for grieving children to come together and feel less alone in their experiences. 

Another important takeaway for Semine is the realization that instead of her original goal of becoming a counselor, she’s pivoting toward a possible career in speech therapy. And a summer of working with clients aged 3 to 24 helped her firmly decide the population she wants to focus on. “It did reinforce that I want to work with kids,” she says.