Martinsville Bulletin, Inc.
P. O. Box 3711
204 Broad Street
Martinsville, Virginia 24115
276-638-8801
Toll Free: 800-234-6575
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| Fourth year of the program |
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Sunday, January 3, 2010
By MICKEY POWELL - Bulletin Staff Writer
For the fourth straight year, the New College Institute (NCI) will sponsor a summer internship program for college students to show them that career opportunities are available close to home after they graduate.
Students must arrange their own internships with local businesses and then submit applications to NCI by Feb. 19. A statement of commitment from the employer describing the internship must accompany the application.
By March 8, NCI will inform students whose internships are approved, as well as the businesses they will work for.
Interns will earn $4,000 during the summer. Employers are expected to pay $1,000 of that amount toward the salary of a first-time intern and $2,000 if their intern is returning from last year’s internship program.
The New College Foundation, a private fundraising arm of NCI, will cover the rest of an intern’s earnings, said NCI Associate Director Leanna Blevins.
The program generally is open to students from Henry and Patrick counties and Martinsville. However, Blevins said students living in adjoining localities who go to school locally — for instance, a Pittsylvania County resident who attends Patrick Henry Community College — also could be considered.
For more information on applying to the internship program, call Blevins at 403-5600 or e-mail her at lblevins@newcollegeinstitute.org.
She said NCI already has had several phone calls and e-mails from students wanting to participate in the program, which runs from May 1 to Sept. 15.
The number of internships that can be funded has not been determined. It will be based on how much money participating businesses contribute, said Blevins, adding that the foundation has contributed about $38,500.
Twelve internships were expected last year, but 14 ultimately were funded because two businesses fully funded their interns’ salaries, Blevins said. They took part in NCI’s program because they needed interns and “wanted to use our screening process,” and they liked that the institute provides social and networking opportunities for interns, she said.
In comparison, 25 interns participated in the summer of 2008. That was when interns’ salaries were paid through a grant from the Virginia Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization Commission, which has since expired, and businesses were not expected to contribute any money.
Blevins said the internship program is “one of the most altruistic things that NCI does.”
Interns are able to earn money, gain job experience and “contribute to our community,” while businesses can show students that jobs are available and they would like to hire people locally to fill them, she said.
Having a successful internship with a firm may give someone an advantage at being offered a permanent job there since executives already are familiar with the person’s abilities, Blevins said.
With high unemployment rates locally, she said, “it’s easy for young people to think they’re not going to find a job at home” when local businesses may have jobs that are “the right fit” for them.
She added that she knows “young people who live in small communities like ours sometimes think the grass is always greener on the other side,” such as in large metropolitan cities.
Even if they do not come home immediately after graduation, eventually they might want to return and settle down in the Martinsville area, where there is a slower pace of life, Blevins said.
NCI is developing a survey for former internship program participants to see how many actually returned and got jobs locally after college, she said. |
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