Grant to establish paid internships for NPC students

National Park College was announced this week as a recipient of almost $175,000 in grant funding for paid internships with local employers.

Great Lakes Higher Education Corp. announced 16 community college recipients in six states of 2017-18 Career Ready Internship Grants. The grant program is intended to help Great Lakes learn how two-year colleges can successfully establish and administer paid internship programs for low-income students and improve their chances of finding work in their chosen fields after graduation.

Almost $2.1 million has been awarded to colleges in Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, Ohio and Wisconsin to create more than 1,000 new internships for students with financial need. North Arkansas College, the only other recipient in Arkansas, was granted more than $96,000.

“It is an outstanding opportunity for our students,” said Mary Kay Wurm, director of career services and service learning. “It has been a long time since I have seen anything come across like this in a grant program.”

The 16 partner colleges were chosen because they detailed their plans to implement thoughtful and strategic methods to recruit students and promote the program to employers, support students throughout the duration of their internships and assign clear and reasonable roles to faculty and staff to ensure the efficient administration of the program. National Park College students are planned to begin their paid internships by Jan. 23.

“Internships are an outstanding way for students to get practical experience,” Wurm said. “Our students come to us in a variety of levels of experience. Some are students right out of high school, of course, with little to no experience, but we also have a great number of students who are maybe changing careers or doing a different career path.

“This is a connector for them to real experience without having ever been hired in that field before. It really gives them a great opportunity for real-world experience and it gives them an advantage to being hired after they graduate.”

Jerry Thomas, vice president for student affairs, alerted staff to the grant opportunity. The college’s application was only completed and submitted last month.

The grant period will run from Jan. 2, 2017, through May 31, 2018. Almost all of the $174,816 awarded to the college will be used to pay the salaries of the students. It is the fourth-highest amount Great Lakes has awarded to a twoyear college.

The pilot program provided $2.5 million in funding to 19 Wisconsin colleges and universities in 2013. Grants were capped at $150,000.

The 2014-15 Career Ready Internship Grants provided $5.2 million to colleges and universities in Iowa, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin. The grants were again capped at $150,000.

Great Lakes announced new grants last year for fouryear institutions in the same four states. The 2015-18 grants provided $12.2 million to 33 colleges and universities. The corporation has committed more than $172 million in grant funding since 2006 to promote higher education access and completion.

According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers, 65 percent of students who take part in paid internships are offered full-time jobs. The success rate is almost double the number of students without internship experience.

Many internships remain unpaid. Wurm said many of the college’s students cannot afford to work unpaid internships due to their personal situations.

Wurm said she is appreciative of the college’s current employer partners. She hopes to increase the total number of partners to 40.

Current employer partners include Oaklawn Racing and Gaming, United Way of the Ouachitas, Mid-America Science Museum, West Shores Senior Living, SBI Metal Buildings, Mountain Harbor Resort and Spa, All Creatures Animal Hospital, Chick-fil-A Leadership Program, Ouachita Children’s Center and Ouachita Behavioral Health and Wellness.

“We all feel that hands-on work experience is a terrific way to prepare graduates for the real world of employment,” said Bill Barnes, president of Mountain Harbor. “We all look forward to working with NPC students.”

“For our team, having extra hands means helping extra people,” said Caroline Finney, marketing and development director for Ouachita Behavioral Health and Wellness.” We look forward to partnering with National Park to give their interns great experience while gaining team members to make our work in the community even more effective. We are excited to be a part of the Career Ready Internship Grant program through National Park College.”

Participating employers may not include religious groups, lobbyists, political organizations or government agencies. They can be for-profit businesses or nonprofit organizations, but Great Lakes has charged colleges to place more students with for-profit employers.

Students must be eligible for federal Pell Grants. Those who already received significant financial aid through scholarships, student loans or other programs may not be eligible.

The new internships cannot replace existing internships or clinicals for certain medical programs. New internships can only be established off-campus and will not replace any workstudy positions.

The grant funding is intended to benefit students who are likely to enter into the workforce soon after the internship instead of transferring to another school. Internships can be provided to postsecondary students enrolled in any level at the college.

“One of the things that excites me about it is it can be in their very first semester,” Wurm said. “It doesn’t have to be in their last semester of training. It can be a brand-new student that starts in January in a program of study like office administration.”

Previous grant recipients reported 98 percent of participating students graduated or continued in their academic programs the following semester. The internships are intended to be relevant to each student’s specific area of study. Wurm said the college will match students with employers based on their degree programs and each business’ needs.

“Oaklawn is very pleased to be working with National Park College to provide these internships,” said Kelli Mussa, director of human resources at Oaklawn. “We have a very diversified workforce with positions ranging from entry level to management and it’s always a benefit to showcase our business to people just starting out or looking to further their careers. We pride ourselves on being one of the largest employers in Hot Springs and helping our community by providing a wide array of jobs.”

The grant team at the college included Wurm, Thomas, John Tucker, student support services director; Lisa Hopper, director of financial aid; and Juanita Brewer, human resources. The college will offer an informational workshop this week and a second next week before students leave school for the holiday break.

The college’s offices will reopen Jan. 2 and classes will begin Jan. 11. Wurm and the grant team will work to provide information to students, process their applications and match them with employers.

The college will establish 12 internships in the spring semester, 36 in the fall and another 36 the following spring. Each internship is available to students for as many as 170 hours, with the flexibility to manage their schedules how they prefer.