Student Campus Corps concludes a successful second year

As the summer season draws to a close, so too does the second year of Oakland University’s innovative Summer Student Campus Corps.

Considered a great success by participants and administrators alike, the program places undergraduate students in temporary, on-campus jobs for the summer months.

The corps supplies paid positions at up to 40 hours a week to help provide a competitive income to students in increasingly difficult economic times. Students can earn up to $10 an hour, or a maximum of $7,200, over 18 weeks.

From April to August, 73 students have benefitted from the internship-style positions, geared to generate meaningful work experience and build professional skills.

Assignments include a variety of longstanding infrastructure projects, including areas such as information technology, grounds and landscaping, recreation and administrative offices. These projects are outside the scope of routine positions traditionally offered by the hiring department and all are temporary.

As a corps member and School of Business Administration student, Rachel Louzon has spent her summer reviewing entrepreneurs’ blueprints for their budding companies.

The finance major is one of several SBA students who are completing summer internships through OU INC, OU’s SmartZone business incubator. The incubator program supports and grows new technology-based and life science businesses with university resources, counseling and financial/capital acquisition assistance.

Louzon served as a business analyst for incubator clients and helped with grants. She also saw the incubator’s Investment Review Board in action.

“I enjoyed meeting the entrepreneurs,” Louzon said. “I love learning about their business plans, what will make a business a success, how it will get funding. I was able to discover the behind-the-scenes processes you wouldn’t normally see.”

Other student interns assigned to the OU INC this summer include Gladjola Xhani, a College of Arts and Sciences student, along with SBA students Saman Waquad, and Chris Scally.

Like many of the SBA’s experiential learning opportunities, these internships allow students to gain valuable real-world experiences while bolstering the area business community.

Louzon applied for the internship to better prepare for life after college. “I would like to learn more about working in a professional environment and this experience gave me an important opportunity,” she said.

For more information about the Summer Student Campus Corps, contact the Financial Aid Office at (248) 370-2550 or finaid@oakland.edu.