On August 15th executives from GM, administrators from University of Detroit Mercy and members of the GM Student Corps met at UDM’s McNichols campus to celebrate the ending of GM’s Student Corps internship program.
In May, 108 high school students from the Detroit area began their journey as interns by learning about giving back to their community through developing and executing their own community service projects. Eleven GM student interns from the University of Michigan Dearborn and sixty retired GM employees mentored these students on their path to excellence. The students came from 11 area schools who are part of the United Way Network Of Excellence list.
Students learned confidence, leadership, teamwork skills and pride via projects such as painting, clean-up and refurbishment of parks and athletic fields, building repairs and many other activities. GM executive vice president and president North America, Mark Reuss said, “The program is a wonderful way to show young people in our community the GM family cares about them and their future. It’s also a terrific example of how we can work together to improve our neighborhoods and change lives for the better.”
As of the August 15 celebration the students had restored 8 parks in the Detroit area, laid 392 yards of mulch, used 225 gallons of paint, planted 425 trees, flowers and other plants, filled 205 bags and 29 dumpsters with plant overgrowth and trash, distributed over 30,000 pounds of food to those in need via local food banks and much more. The internship ended on August 22.
In many cases this internship was the first paying job the high schoolers ever had. They were also afforded the opportunity to attend sessions where they learned life skills such as communication, career development, decision-making, banking and budgeting, and safety and health.
They also toured Focus: HOPE, Junior Achievement, University of Detroit Mercy, GM Design, the GM Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant, and the GM Heritage Center.
The whole program was chronicled in a 60-minute documentary, created by UDM Communication Studies Professor Jason Roche along with 4 UDM student videographers also were GM summer interns. Over 120 GM employees joined the students to help them out at their various project sites.
The students in this internship program came from the following Detroit area schools: Van Dyke Lincoln High School, River Rouge High School, Detroit Public Schools Osborn Campus, Melvindale High School, Madison High School, Henry Ford High School, Harper Woods High School, Hamtramck High School, East Detroit High School, Detroit Public Schools Cody Campus and Central Collegiate Academy.
