Internship Program Helps Turn Job into Career Opportunity

LouSonya Woodland, Workforce Coordinator; Malcolm Bouldin, Intern; Benny Hubbard, Chairman of Southcentral MS Works Workforce Board; Shannon Dunaway, Intern; and Robin Parker, Director of Workforce

The workforce division partnered with Nissan North America in Canton to offer a summer internship to current Community College students. This internship is designed to help students still enrolled in school gain experience in their area of study before taking the final steps into full-time employment. Additionally, this work experience offered students an opportunity to implement the technical skills that they were learning in their classroom instruction.

Seven (7) students from Hinds Community College, Holmes Community College, and Copiah-Lincoln Community College successfully completed the 320-hour paid internship program at the Canton plant. Internship wages were paid through the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA).

All students who completed the internship will return to their respective Colleges to complete their degrees. Nissan has expressed interest in offering the interns full-time employment upon graduation.

Two (2) of the seven (7) interns came to the Southcentral MS Works Workforce Board Meeting to share their experiences. At the board meeting, Malcolm Bouldin said, “My experience at Nissan was a 10 out of 10. My goal was to further my knowledge and get my foot in the door of a company like Nissan and this experience gave me that opportunity”. Shannon Dunaway stated, “My goal was to learn as much as I could during the internship to help me during my final year at Co-Lin Community College. I accomplished this goal and built relationships with people who may give me the opportunity to work for them in a position that will help me to better provide for my future family”.

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