Bloomfield College Students Participate in NCI Summer Internship Program

The City of Newark funds a Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP), which provides 2,500 Newark residents with employment over the summer.

The Summer Youth Employment Program provides Newark youth with summer employment and educational experiences that build their interests, strengths and talents, impacting positive youth development. Every year, hundreds of young people in Newark seek summer employment that has the potential to spark their professional interests and make early strides on their career.

The Newark College Institute (NCI), funded by the Victoria Foundation and Rutgers University - Newark, runs a similar summer internship program but specifically for college-going Newark residents. This year, the SYEP and NCI merged their summer internship to expand and enhance the opportunities for all college-going Newark residents.

Over the summer, Bloomfield College served as a work site for this program. Eight Bloomfield College undergraduate students from Newark were able to participate in the 8-week program as paid interns.

D’Liyah Brown-Florence '18 interned with Academic Affairs; Ashley Lane '18 and Akeelah Holston '19 interned with the Admissions Office; Sameerah Baker '20 interned with the Wellness Center; Leshane Lacue '20 and Osaretin Igbinovia '19 interned with Marketing and Web; Briana Able '18 interned with the TRIO SSS-STAR Program; and Ernesto Soto '20 interned with CSLE.

“I was placed in the SSS STAR Office. I was honored to have the opportunity to hold the position as an office assistant/peer coordinator for Celeste Walden-Kelley. Although it did not correlate with my major, I learned a lot,” expressed Briana Able, who will graduate in May. “I learned about the importance of confidentiality, inventory, professional behavior and taking responsibility for my actions. I also had the opportunity to create ideas that would help incoming freshmen transition smoothly into college.”

Fellow intern D’Liyah Brown-Florence interned with the Bloomfield Center Alliance in the spring and was offered a paid internship to stay with the organization. She chose to intern at the College over the summer instead, but plans to return to the Bloomfield Alliance in the fall. 

The program ran from June 5, 2017 until July 28, 2017.

“Bloomfield College is thankful for the funding provided by the Newark College Institute (NCI) and the SYEP, which allowed us to offer our own on-campus internship program this summer,” said Yanett Bagce, Director of TRIO Student Support Services STAR Program. “Students were able to utilize the knowledge and theory learned in the classroom to develop real-world problem solving and leadership skills required to be successful in the workplace, which will surely bridge our students to successful full-time employment opportunities upon graduation.”

The College is pleased with the new partnership and looks forward to having more interns on campus next summer. The College aims to formalize an internship program for 20 Newark residents that attend Bloomfield College and are SSS-STAR students every summer.

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