O'Pake Experiential Learning
O'Pake Fellows Program
The O’Pake Fellows Program provides high-achieving undergraduate and graduate students at Alvernia University with the ability to work hands-on with entrepreneurs, small businesses, regional partners, and faculty in a truly unique manner. The highly qualified students that enter the program are provided with numerous hours of professional training and mentoring to prepare them to work with our clients. Once trained, they are partnered with specific clients to provide services that match their expertise. The students receive experiential learning opportunities from their work, learn from faculty and subject matter mentors, and deliver quality services to clients.
“I like to think of O’Pake as a place with padded walls, where if you make a mistake, it won't hurt too much. It's great preparation for going into the real world.” — Anthony Florkowski ’25, MBA ’27, O'Pake Fellow
Your O’Pake Journey
- YEAR 1: DREAM
Discover Your Path
Explore your interests, build foundational skills, and shadow real client work.
- YEAR 2: TRANSFORM
Apply Your Skills
Work on client projects, collaborate with your team, and gain real-world experience.
- YEAR 3 & 4: SOAR
Lead. Mentor. Launch.
Lead projects, mentor others, and launch your career with the confidence and experience to stand out.
FAQs
- When do students apply to become a Fellow?
Students apply during their senior year of high school as part of their college search process.
- Is there a limit to the length of time you can participate?
Fellows participate throughout their entire Alvernia experience — from their first year through graduation.
- Are all majors eligible?
Yes, all majors are eligible. Fellows must maintain a minimum 3.0 GPA to participate.
“A lot of entry level jobs want two years of experience. But if you’ve just graduated college, how are you expected to get that? O’Pake has actually solved that problem. We’re completing college with all this experience.” — Brody DeGroodt ’25, former Fellow of Pre-law
Fellows Programs
Whether you see yourself in a courtroom, boardroom, classroom, or an elected office, you’ll do the real work behind it - running patent and trademark searches, analyzing contracts, researching how laws and policies actually get made, and shaping community and government initiatives from the ground up. From IP and corporate law to constitutional and criminal law to public policy and government service, you’ll build the airtight research, writing, and critical-thinking skills every legal and civic career is built on.
You’ll work at the frontier of healthcare innovation - supporting biomedical projects, community health initiatives, and the regulatory and FDA pathways that turn medical ideas into real care. You’ll learn to navigate complex health systems and make data-informed decisions, the exact skills healthcareleadership careers demand
You’ll put the scientific method to work on real problems and real innovations - collecting and analyzing data, testing ideas, and developing solutions that hold up outside the classroom. Whatever your field, you’ll sharpen the research methodology, analytical thinking, and problemsolving that make scientists indispensable.
You’ll design and build - turning sketches into prototypes with CAD and 3D printing, running feasibility and opportunity assessments, and pushing real products toward market. You’ll also take on hands-on engineering work like plant efficiency and process-improvement studies, automation, and technology implementation, learning to spot waste, reduce variation, and streamline how things get made. It’s the kind of data-driven problem-solving that delivers measurable results for real clients and real, resume-ready experience for you.
You’ll bring ideas to life - designing visuals, producing events, and telling multimedia stories for real clients and community partners. From creative direction to audience engagement, you’ll leave with a portfolio that proves you can take a concept from imagination to the stage, screen, or gallery.
You’ll be the numbers behind the business - building financial models, budgets, and pro-forma projections, pressure testing pitch decks, and helping evaluate real venture investments. Working alongside O’Pake’s finance and venture committees, you’ll develop the analytical and decisionmaking skills that finance, accounting, and management careers run on.
You’ll help organizations run better, and teams perform stronger - writing operating procedures, leading team development, or managing events, promotions, and performance analytics in sports and entertainment. Either path builds the leadership, recruitment, and relationship-building skills that keep people and operations moving.
You’ll build brands people notice – creating social media campaigns, content, logos, and websites, and shaping the strategy behind them for real clients. From copywriting and email marketing to photography, video, and design, you’ll graduate with a portfolio of published work and the storytelling skills every organization needs.
You’ll solve problems with cutting-edge technology - automating tasks, building dashboards, developing software and websites, and analyzing real datasets. Whether you’re drawn to cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, or data science, you’ll turn technical skills into tangible solutions clients actually use.
You’ll work where people and community meet - supporting nonprofits, coordinating outreach and cultural-coalition initiatives, collaborating with local municipalities, and helping secure grant funding that drives local impact. Along the way, you’ll grow the communication, leadership, and inclusive engagement skills behind every career built on serving others.
Success Stories
O'Pake Fellow set up for professional success after logging 500 consulting hours
Since he started as an O’Pake Fellow during his first year at Alvernia University, Anthony Florkowski ’25, MBA ’27 says his communication and project management skills have made a 180-degree change for the better, setting him up for success in the...
O'Pake Institute work helps MBA student stockpile experience for future career
In his years at Alvernia University, Brody DeGroodt ’25 has had many rich experiences — four years as a baseball player, academic excellence that included the History Achievement Award at the Honors Convocation, and deep friendships.But perhaps th...
O'Pake director honored for debut book chronicling Latine stories
Lizette Epps, MBA, CUDE, CNP, AWA, Executive Director of Community and Economic Development at Alvernia University's O’Pake Institute for Economic Development & Entrepreneurship, recently celebrated a significant career milestone: the publicat...
