Faculty/Staff and Intern/Co-op
Intern/Co-op is an experiential, academic program which allows students the opportunity to apply what they have learned in your classroom to their job or internship worksite. Co-op Work Experience Education started at a university in Cincinnati in 1911 and exists in university and community colleges all over the United States today. Its application for learning format, coupled with a required weekly Work Experience (WEXP) class as required by Los Rios, has great appeal to our students and employers in the greater Sacramento region.
Intern/Co-op serves two groups of students in your classroom-employees who are working
and want to apply new knowledge and skills on their job and student interns
who lack work experience in their major.
Our Intern/Co-op students can be an asset in your classroom for the following reasons:
- Often Intern/Co-op students are focused. By the time they reach Intern/Co-op, they are at the end of the matriculation process. They have sorted out their career decisions and are pursuing their career paths with energy and purpose. In other words, they understand why they are in your classroom.
- They have a deeper understanding of their career goals, are attentive, have better attendance, and care about their learning.
- Whether they are employees or interns, the knowledge students acquire in their jobs or internships can bring fresh new ideas and currency of information to share with both you and other students.
- Generally, Intern/Co-op students have a very high rate of retention and persistence, because they have a career goal. They do not want to leave your classroom.
The Intern/Co-op staff looks forward to working with you. We are also available to assist you in coordinating efforts to develop internship sites in your industry field. We are available to make in-class presentations to your students about the benefits of participating in Work Experience and Internships. We are here to support you.
