Students, Employers Go On A Speed Date

More than 230 New Haven public-school graduates descended the staircase at the Payne Whitney Gym, looking for the match that could help spell a promising future.

Their goal: to land one of the approximately 100 paid summer internships being offered by 32 employers, who waited at tables to take turns at meeting them.

The college students rotated among the tables handing out their resumes, getting to know their potential employers face-to-face. Three 15-minute introductory sessions, matched by compatibility of professional interests, were followed by two 10-minute sessions based on the students’ choices. Music cued the students when it was time to move on to visit a possible interested employer at the next table.

The speed-dating-style internship event was organized Wednesday evening by New Haven Promise, the Yale- and Community Foundation-funded college scholarship program for New Haven high school graduates. The session was the fourth annual internship fair Promise has organized for graduates it has helped attend college.

Most of the employers present were from Yale University departments; other corporations such as UBS and New Haven University were also looking to hire.

At one meet-and-greet session, Yale Police Lts. J. Jones and Von Narcisse described the 35-hour weekly, five-week summer internship at the department’s Camp New Haven. ​“Don’t run away,” Jones joked. We won’t arrest you.” The police explained the interns would work and learn from counselors at the camp and added it was a good opportunity for people who liked the outdoors.

Paola Otera, an 18-year-old student at Gateway Community College, stopped by the police department’s table. Otera said she hopes to have a career in teaching art and therapy. She would like an internship, where she could work in New Haven and help children, including troubled and at-risk youths.

Isaac Bloodworth, a 21-year-old senior at the University of Connecticut, Storrs, became a New Haven Promise scholar upon graduation from Cooperative Arts & Humanities High School. Through the program, he held internships for the last three summers at the Yale University Art Gallery. He is studying puppet arts within a dramatics arts major. Upon graduation, Bloodworth is looking to land a job at the art gallery, to teach puppetry at local high schools, and to start a community art space. His ultimate goal is to work at Pixar. He noted much of Star Wars and other film effects are puppetry-based, and would combine his interests in visual arts and performance.

Jeff Yoshimine, deputy director for exhibition and collection management at the Yale University Art Gallery, was one of the Bloodworth’s supervisors. He observed Bloodworth’s growth over the years as an intern, a person and a budding arts professional. He noted Bloodworth is a very social person, which could have been a distraction in high school. Over the years, Yoshimine said, Bloodworth matured, becoming more serious and focused. ​“He understands his work has meaning and importance in terms of his professional aspirations.”

Bloodworth’s father, city government prison-reentry staffer Earl Bloodworth, said he appreciates the program, referring to today’s youth as tomorrow’s resources. ​“If we don’t support or invest in them, New Haven won’t be sustainable.”

The New Haven Promise program is a growing investment. According to New Haven Promise President Patricia Melton, the program has disbursed $5 million in scholarships since 2010.

New Haven Promise President Patricia Melton explained the organization’s motto: ​“To, through and back.” ​“We help them get to college, afford it, succeed in college, and then help them make that really critical leap from being a college student to being a citizen in the city with job,” she said.

The New Haven Promise program has two components: Through a competitive process, tuition scholarships are granted to selected students who graduated from New Haven public high schools, live in New Haven and attend colleges in Connecticut. However, even if the students do not accept the scholarships and attend out-of-state schools, as scholars, they can still participate in the internship program. Yale University predominately pays for the scholarships and the participating employers fund each of the internships. The program does not use federal, state or city dollars.

Chris Brown, director of New Haven community hiring initiatives at Yale, said the university has now hired more than 130 interns over the last three years. In the first year, the internship program started in the lobby of the Yale University Art Gallery with 69 students and nine departments. Now there are 250 students and 25 participating Yale departments, according to Brown.

The average scholar makes $4,000 after taxes during a summer internship, according to Amy Gaither, New Haven Promise talent development manager. Gaither said in addition to the internships offered at the fair, employers will frequently add more positions during the hiring process.