On Monday, May 30, Premier Ed Stelmach unveiled the Serving Communities Internship Program or SCiP, a new internship program to reward Alberta students for working in the communities. It’s an idea ASEC has spent the last two years working on, alongside the Government of Alberta, and Volunteer Alberta.
Here’s what our current Chair, Timothy Jobs, had to say during yesterday’s announcement:
My name is Timothy Jobs and I am delighted to be here today to speak on behalf of our province’s post-secondary students.
I am currently the Chair of the Alberta Students’ Executive Council, an advocacy group that represents over half of the province’s quarter-million students, attending technical institutions, universities, and colleges across Alberta.
Investing in Alberta Students
The idea that blossomed into the Serving Communities internship program came from the clear need to find innovative solutions to increase the affordability of our post-secondary system.
Without question, the pursuit of a post-secondary education is the most important and financially significant investment a young person can make in his or her future.
And it is also one of the most important investments taxpayers can make. For every dollar invested in our post-secondary education system, three dollars and eight cents are returned in the form of greater economic output, and lower costs for social programs.
So it is critically important that students have the necessary tools – beyond merely loans and scholarships – to manage the costs of pursuing a post-secondary credential.
With this in mind, two years ago, our council pitched a simple idea: create a program to reward students for using their skills to benefit their communities.
The Serving Communities internship program promises to do exactly this, and much much more.
Connecting Students and Communities
For students, it creates both short-term and long-term solutions to increase the affordability of education. In the short-term, it provides students with a significant bursary to be used towards the costs of pursuing their studies, and in the long term, it allows students to gain important skills needed build meaningful careers.
It also demonstrates that students are committed stakeholders in their communities, working to strengthen the fabric of the non-profit organizations, which provide key services and add vibrancy to their communities.
Imagine fine arts students from ACAD or Red Deer College teaching art-making to at-risk youth. Or information technology students from NAIT or the University of Calgary delivering internet tutoring at seniors homes. Or education students from Mount Royal Univrersity, Grant MacEwan University, Keyano College, or the University of Lethbridge designing curriculum programs at their local YMCA. The possibilities are limited only by our collective imagination.
Partners in Collaboration
What is exciting about the Serving Communities internship program is that it does more than increase community cohesion and affordability of our post-secondary system – it also demonstrates the potential of involving students as active partners in the policy creation process.
Over the past two years, we were overwhelmed by the enthusiasm, support and encouragement we received from the Government of Alberta and Volunteer Alberta in helping nurture Serving Communities from a blue-sky idea to an on-the-ground reality.
We stand here today as proud partners in the success of this program.
We are thrilled to see the needs of Alberta students being addressed by the Government of Alberta in a way that benefits both the non-profit sector and post-secondary students.
This new and innovative way of giving students support they need to succeed during, and after, their studies, is a win-win-win for communities, the Government of Alberta and students across the province.
We thank the government, especially Premier Stelmach, Minister Weadick and Minister Blackett, for their support in making this program a priority now.
Learn more at joinscip.ca
