KGSP Prepares Students for Success with Virtual Career Center Meetings

Finding the perfect summer internship requires students to be proactive and have a plan. To help students take advantage of their university internship, usually offered early in the Fall semester, the KGSP Enrichment and Advising teams engaged directly with KGSP students to ensure they had the resources and support they needed to navigate an internship search and land an ideal summer enrichment opportunity. To reach students and provide nuanced resources specific to their undergraduate host institutions, the KGSP launched a series of virtual meetings connecting KGSP students to campus career centers and undergraduate research centers ahead of campus-wide events open to the larger university population. These targeted meetings aimed to streamline communication between students and their specific university’s available career services, giving students valuable insights about upcoming summer research and internship opportunities and the resources available to help secure one.

University career centers and undergraduate research centers play a pivotal role in helping students navigate the world of internships, research opportunities, and networking events, which can be essential in identifying and landing an ideal summer opportunity. Starting early can be the key to success, and KGSP has encouraged students not to wait until winter or spring to begin their search. During the fall term 208 KGSP students submitted applications for summer opportunities for 2025 and five students have already secured summer placements, including research positions at MIT and the University of Michigan.

KGSP students have pointed to the virtual meetings linking KGSP’s enrichment support to on-campus university resources as helpful for navigating what can be a daunting and overwhelming search for internships or research opportunities. "As a Freshman, I found the enrichment informational sessions crucial for getting acquainted with the opportunities and people within my university and beyond” shared Faisal Alturki, a KGSP student at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. “I appreciate the KGSP Enrichment Team’s efforts for supporting us with finding these opportunities.”

These virtual career center meetings are just one of the many ways that the KGSP supports its students in their career development. The KGSP continues to assist students in identifying and preparing applications to summer opportunities, holding information sessions about specific prospective employers or institutional hosts and offering guidance on fine-tuning CVs and preparing to impress in interviews. By strengthening the connections between students and all available resources, and offering individualized guidance tailored to student interests and KGSP partnerships, the Enrichment and Advising teams are helping KGSP students take important steps toward enriching their undergraduate experiences outside of the classroom.