I'm always the first to say what I know and what I don't. Since publishing on 2/29, I've had the opportunity to gain perspectives from many friends and colleagues - particularly in career services. Needless to say, the Internship LEAP would be a colossal task.
The LEAP initiative is true to our core mission to close the gap between school and work with internships as THE solution to improve workforce readiness and "right-careering" college students. Most everyone with whom I've spoken agrees that it's a good idea to create a network of internship centers to interface with employers and charitable community organizations (ApprentiCorps). These centers would be all about best practices - which would require thorough research.
For example, freshman year could involve tying into admissions to centralize records and doing an intake. Student sophomores would take prep courses, Juniors would intern, then reflect. Seniors would adapt to their interests accordingly.
As stated, the core purpose here is to be a conduit and seamlessly integregrate on campuses. Imagine an Internship Readiness and Placement Center with student work stations to create flexibility to do virtual internships for employer or even departments on campus. The possibilities are far and wide.
What do you think? Again, this exercise is about creating the ideal solution with complete disregard to obvious the hurdles. More to come.
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