College of the Desert unveils their new “Power of Five Program”
The program expected to offer students paid internships, at a rate of 21 dollars an hour. COD’S school gymnasium was full of students looking to pave their way towards future success yesterday morning.
“It gives students the opportunity to learn how to manage a project as an engineer, what it means to manage a project as an engineer, all the aspects on both the field and office side", says Rafael Sarabia, engineer intern at Granite Construction.
Rafael Sarabia, engineer intern at Granite Construction, is also a first generation student here at College of the Desert, he knows the struggles of furthering his education. “As a first generation college student, it means the world, this opportunity means the world to be able to further my education and kind of just follow the path that my parents set for me,” said Sarabia.
There were over 40 employers present, among them IID officials there pointing out that Hispanics are under-represented in STEM careers.
“Very little opportunities are offered in stem, so we do have lots of positions here that offer engineering, like engineering technicians, electrical and lots of computer systems," said Angela Manzo, Clerical Technician at IID.
Manzo says that students who start off as interns have the opportunity to have a permanent position. “The students come in and they start off as students for those three months, and in case that there’s any types of vacancies, we contract them for temporary employees and from there on they continue with that experience and then we transition them to permanent employees", said Manzo.
The businesses in the Power of 5 include:
- IID
- McCallum Theatre
- The Living Desert
- Agua Caliente Casino
- Palm Springs Life Magazine
- News Channel 3
For more information on the Power of 5 program please visit www.CollegeoftheDesert.edu.
