SECU Public Fellows Intern Program

Approved by Board of Directors: 2015, program renewed annually

In the summer of 2013 SECU Foundation partnered with the NC Rural Economic Development Center, Inc., to fund a SECU Public Service Intern program for college students from rural NC. The program awarded 35 paid internships to rising sophomores or juniors from NC universities or community colleges. Under the program, SECU Public Service Interns were able to explore potential careers in their home communities or regions through a four-week summer internship in their local county government. The member-funded SECU Foundation contributed $7,500 per participant for costs associated with the program, with a total initiative cost of $262,500.

The SECU Public Service Intern was replaced in summer 2015 with the SECU Public Fellows Internship program that was established as a pilot at three universities: Appalachian State, East Carolina, and UNC Pembroke. The program is designed to connect interested, talented undergraduate students with local leadership in order to obtain meaningful on-the-job experience with a local agency or organization while providing a unique learning opportunity to allow the SECU Public Fellows Intern to give back to his or her community. Based on the success of the pilot, the program has expanded to the following universities: Elizabeth City State, Fayetteville State, UNC Wilmington, Winston-Salem State, Western Carolina, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, North Carolina Central, North Carolina State, UNC Asheville, UNC Chapel Hill, UNC Charlotte, UNC Greensboro, and UNC School of the Arts. Each participating university administers the SECU Public Fellows Internship program locally and targets up to twenty in-state undergraduate students per campus with a maximum stipend or payment of $5,000 per intern. The SECU Foundation awards up to $100,000 per school per year. Students interested in applying for an SECU Public Fellows Internship should contact their participating university.

EdNC did a series of articles on the SECU Public Fellows Internship Program entitled “Investing in Internships” that ran in September 2017. Below are links to each of the articles within the series: