Today, more than ever, we are faced with many decisions in our daily lives. Just in our careers we are faced with decisions like what college should we attend, what should we major in, what classes should we take, who should we seek advice from?
It can be great to have all of these opportunities and options in our lives but it can definitely become very overwhelming to decide what the right decisions are for us. This is a problem that a group of students noticed among their peers at Illinois Tech. They saw the hard work that their friends were putting into their majors but also noticed that many of them were not finding the ideal work experience that they wanted. In conversation with their peers about career paths one of them remarked, “I don’t know what steps to take.”
It was at that moment that the idea of the Internship Academy was born. The Internship Academy was founded on September 28, 2017. The purpose of this student organization as stated in their mission statement is to “provide members with the resources necessary to achieve a bright future in their professional and social lives by creating a strong network and finding a meaningful internship.”
This is the mission that the group set out to fulfill when they launched on campus with their first event on January 31, 2018. From there, the Internship Academy provided students with events where they could learn about resources and network with purpose. It was this idea of networking with purpose that gave rise to opportunities where students could not only meet with each other but also share experiences that would help them in their careers. The Mentor Buddies program was a result of this, where students are paired with Alumni who can share their experience in the same field so that the students can use this advice to accelerate their careers instead of having to learn everything from scratch.
The next phase of the Internship Academy is to connect with companies across Chicago. This will fulfill the mission of helping students find a meaningful internship because it will give rise to opportunities where students can directly engage with the company of their choice. Some of the programming for the Fall 2018 semester includes company tours, Alumni panels, and the continuation of the Mentor Buddies program. The Internship Academy will also incorporate a new point system that will encourage a students progress in order to unlock benefits such as, receiving a space in the organization’s newsletter where they can share their story, having early access when engaging with companies for opportunities, getting priority towards a sponsored out-of-state conference, and much more!
We hope that you decide to join us during the Fall 2018 semester! For any questions or comments the Internship Academy can be reached at internship@iit.edu.
About the Author
Ricardo Morales Torres is Founder and President of the Internship Academy. He is also involved in Latinos Involved in Further Education and the Commuter Student Association.