GM Student Corps Celebrates 5 Year Anniversary
The GM Student Corps, General Motors’ initiative to help young people in underserved school districts prepare for their future, is now celebrating its fifth and largest year of existence. Through a nine-week program that involves paid internships, important life skills training, and career and college preparation, the GM Student Corps has spent half a decade creating opportunities for less advantaged students.
Pershing High and Detroit Collegiate Prep at Northwestern are the latest schools to join the GM Student Corps, bringing the total to 15 schools and 150 student interns from Metro Detroit, Flint, and Pontiac, Michigan.
One success story from the program is Brittany Agee, a former GM Student Corps high school intern who’s now a junior at Alabama State University pursuing her dream of becoming a social worker. This summer, Agee is returning as a college intern and mentor to help other students looking to follow in her footsteps.
“I learned so much being part of Student Corps, and now I want to help others see that education is the way up,” said Agee, who graduated from the Academy of Public Leadership at Detroit’s Cody Campus in 2015.
Agee is one of five Student Corps alumni now enrolled in college that are among the 15 college interns guiding this year’s high school participants.
Student Corps matches teams of 10 high school interns with retired GM executives and college interns to design and implement community service projects, often at schools and parks. The students manage all aspects of the community service projects, from budgeting to planning to troubleshooting and meeting deadlines.
“GM Student Corps helps create safer, more sustainable communities, but just as importantly, it changes lives,” said Heidi Magyar, director of GM Community Outreach and Student Corps. “With help from our GM retiree and college intern mentors, these high school students learn the value of teamwork, leadership, goal-setting and community service — lessons they’ll carry with them the rest of their lives.”
Since 2013, the GM Student Corps has provided nearly 500 summer internships to students who have completed over 50 school improvement projects and more than 50 park renovations.
The 2017 GM Student Corps schools are Central Collegiate Academy, Cody Campus, East Detroit High School, Flint Southwestern Classical Academy, Hamtramck High School, Harper Woods High School, Henry Ford High School, Madison High School, Melvindale High School, Osborn Campus, Pontiac High School, River Rouge High School, Van Dyke Lincoln High School, Pershing High School and Detroit Collegiate Prep at Northwestern.
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