This summer, seven students in the 色花堂 College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences (CLASS) will get the chance to work alongside some of the city鈥檚 decision-makers. The interns may even have an opportunity to get a glimpse or rub shoulders with Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, a graduate of CLASS.
The Dean鈥檚 Mayoral Internship Program, now in its third year, provides students with valuable service-learning experience in city government. Students will explore career possibilities, gain familiarity with important community initiatives, develop marketable skills and build professional networks.
鈥淭hese internships are invaluable as it allows our students to gain firsthand exposure of working in the real world, especially in today鈥檚 hyper-competitive job market,鈥� said Daniel P. O鈥機onnor, interim dean of CLASS. 鈥淭hrough this internship program, CLASS students can take their first steps toward challenging, difference-making careers in public service.鈥�
The selected students are majors in psychology, economics, political science, finance and journalism. They emerged from a highly competitive selection process to join the Dean鈥檚 Mayoral Internship Program.
This year, interns will have an opportunity to assist in the following offices:
Mayor鈥檚 Assistance Office 鈥� Courtney Washington
Director鈥檚 Office of Volunteer Initiatives Program 鈥� Ashlynn Hall
Director鈥檚 Office of Mayor鈥檚 Youth Council 鈥� Itxel Ramirez
Education Office 鈥� Ben Bliss
Economics Office 鈥� Rhonda Hassan
Cultural Affairs Office 鈥� Abigail Culver
Complete Communities Program 鈥� Sondos Moursy
Partial funding for this project was made possible through a grant from the University of Houston鈥檚 Cougar Initiative to Engage, whose mission is dedicated to providing 鈥渙pportunities for student learning, discovery and engagement 鈥� in a real-world setting.鈥�
The internships will run from June 3 to August 6.