College Access & Success Intern (College Depot at Phoenix Public Library)

Monday, March 15th, 2021 from 12:00am to Saturday, April 30th, 2022 12:00am (MT)
The application period has ended or been marked as full. If you attended, let the organizer know by recording your Impact!

About

***Unfortunately, due to temporary restrictions College Depot is not able to onboard new interns. This position is only available for students who have served an internship at College Depot in the past. This notice will be removed once this restriction has been removed. ***

Below are typical duties carried out by the College Access & Success Intern at College Depot.
  • Assist prospective and current college students with college planning information, tools, and referrals
  • Provide individualized and group assistance with their college/career plans, college searches, admissions applications, and scholarships searches/applications.
  • Provide individualized assistance in completing the FAFSA and corresponding paperwork
  • Provide one-on-one education plans and connections to options for earning a high school diploma or GED
  • Conduct hands-on labs and other activities and events dealing with college preparation topics
  • Coordinate instrument drives for under-resourced schools
  • Support and coach pregnant teens or abused women

VIRTUAL / REMOTE OPPORTUNITIES
The tasks listed above can be completed virtually, however, if the library is able to reopen you will have the option of coming to the site or continuing in a virtual capacity.

AVAILABLE DAYS/HOURS
*Mornings *Afternoons *Evenings *Weekends
  • Monday: 9-5pm
  • Tuesday: 11-7pm
  • Wednesday: 11-7pm
  • Thursday: 11-7pm
  • Friday: 9-5pm
  • Saturday: 9-5pm

POPULATION SERVED
As a program of Phoenix Public Library, College Depot is free and available for all members of the community. However, the predominant population served and the focus of our mission is first-generation, low-income youth and adults. Of our customers, 81 percent indicated that their family earns less than $42,000 per year, 65 percent identified as Hispanic/Latino, 15 percent as White/Caucasian, 11 percent as Black/African American, 3 percent as American Indian, 3 percent as Asian, and 3 percent as other.

COMMUNITY NEED
According to the American School Counselor Association, Arizona has the worst student-to-counselor ratio in the United States at 924 students per single counselor. With these counselors struggling to meet with all the students on their caseload to help them navigate through high school, adding college planning to all students is simply not possible.

On their own, as much as these students and their families yearn to take that leap, they are often ill-equipped to take the necessary steps to turn their college dreams into a reality. Further complicating this is the fact that, apart from fee-for-service college access programs, they have little to no options to find solid support and guidance with the process. College Depot is able to bridge that gap by connecting students and student-serving entities (schools, nonprofits, etc.) to its team of dedicated professionals.

COMMUNITY IMPACT
College Depot has become a cornerstone for college access support by providing professional and individualized assistance to first-generation, low income youth and adults in the greater Phoenix community (College Depot, 2019). This is accomplished by customers scheduling one-on-one appointments with a College Access Advisor to receive assistance completing any step in the categories of general college planning (creating a college plan, searching for colleges, etc.), financial aid (applying for scholarships, completing the FAFSA, etc.), and admissions (college applications, to-do items to complete admissions, etc.). Since opening on June 10, 2009, College Depot has helped over 75,000 customers with 22,000 of those being an unduplicated count of customers who received appointments.

CAPACITY:: 2 interns
Registration
Opens Mar 15, 2021 12:00am
Supervisor(s)
Paid
Not Paid
Timeframe
Fall, Spring, Summer
Credit
Yes
Social
Requirements
Background check, Fingerprinting
Requirement Details
Basic knowledge of college planning, admissions, scholarships and financial aid
Ability to speak Spanish (preferred)
Experience with presenting programs and public speaking
Experience providing quality customer service
Excellent communication skills

FINGERPRINTING DETAILS 
Fingerprint type: federal
Associated costs: none
How long processing will take: it can take several weeks
Whether or not students may start some type of service while waiting for fingerprint processing. Students can start service prior to clearance.

BACKGROUND CLEARANCE DETAILS
Fingerprint type: federal (no drug screeening)
Associated costs: none
How long processing will take: It can take several weeks. Students can start service prior to clearance but will not be able to work directly with customers until they have passed. Students will undergo training, shadow and co-facilitate appointments while waiting for clearance to process.

TRAINING / ORIENTATION  DETAILS
Individualized training in the areas of college access, financial aid, and general college planning is provided by the College Depot team to prepare interns to work with individuals directly.
Sustainable Development Goals