Summer Internships

We want to be sure your opportunities catch the eyes of students. Check out some quick tips.

Exciting summer internships allow students to gain experience, explore possible career paths, live out their personal values, and weave together their education at Carleton with community and civic engagement.

• Learn about and from community partner
  • Understand community partner frameworks, stakeholders, audiences
  • Explore organizational structure and development
  • Attend meetings with stakeholders, other invested parties

• Provide opportunities to lead and manage projects or programs
  • Plan, develop, implement, evaluate projects or programs 
  • Analyze project stakeholders, those impacted by projects or programs
  • Create opportunities to supervise volunteers
  • Transition project management, ensuring continuity of projects or programs

• Communicate the work and values of the community partners to campus stakeholders and future Summer Interns

• Collaborate with professionals inside and outside of the community partner
  • Build strong, meaningful relationships with community partners

• Translate knowledge, skills, and interests learned in the classroom to support community partner projects/programs

• November: Develop position postings with Erica Zweifel
• December: Posting go live on Carleton’s Handshake platform
• February: Priority deadline for applications, with the option to extend
• March – May: Recruitment and hiring continues until positions filled

Thanks to the generous support of Carleton donors and supporters, community partners may engage Carleton students in full-time or part-time unpaid summer internships without placing a financial burden on students. Students with unpaid or underpaid internships may apply for funding from the Career Center to cover their summer expenses and savings goals, and based on the student’s need, most requests are able to be fulfilled.

• Social media
• Posters
• Student issue-area email list
• Active recruiting among students involved in the local community through the CCCE’s other programs

• Sustainability Education and Engagement City of Northfield (CCCE), Are you interested in sustainability, zero waste, podcasts, and/or local policy and planning? This internship has all that! Work with the City of Northfield’s Assistant to the City Administrator Risi Karim on zero waste projects, podcast development, community events, and marketing sustainability
• Food Access Intern in Faribault (CCCE), Address food insecurity working with the Food Access Program team, the Summer Food Access Intern will provide direct client services and support the overall operations of mobile food distributions, assist with the daily operations of the new CAC Faribault Food Shelf, as well as continue to advance CAC’s community outreach within the Faribault area.
• Food Access in Northfield (CCCE), Address food insecurity working with the Food Access Program team, the Summer Food Access Intern will provide direct client services and support the overall operations of mobile food distributions, assist with the daily operations of the CAC Northfield Food Shelf, as well as continue to advance CAC’s community outreach within the Northfield area.
• Faribault Public Schools Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math STEAM summer programming (CCCE), Lead activities and lessons for a section of students going into grades PreK-8 for Summer STEAM. Responsibilities include leading, assisting in, and working with a team to provide instruction and activities, leading afternoon camp sessions
• Growing Up Healthy Internship (CCCE), Use your skills to transform communities and build resiliency with our immigrant neighbors. Join Growing Up Healthy in working with Latine immigrant families in Rice County this summer.
• Laura Baker Public Policy and Marketing Intern (CCCE), Work closely with LBSA’s Executive Director and Director of Community Relations to assist in the execution of LBSA’s Advocacy Plan, manage the LBSA Instagram and Twitter accounts and assist the organization with other marketing initiatives. Our goal is to make it easy for members of our community to voice their policy concerns in a simple, unified manner. 
• Northfield Area YMCA Marketing and communication intern (CCCE), Join the YMCA team with its strong national brand and support our local “Y”. Enjoy a nurturing work environment with a strong sense of community as you work on their marketing and communications projects. 
• Northfield Area YMCA Human Resources intern (CCCE), Enjoy a nurturing work environment with a strong sense of community as you work on their human resources projects. Curious about human resources? This is a hands-on opportunity to learn about multiple aspects of the human resources field.
• Curbside Compost Cooperative Summer Assistant (CCCE), If you are interested in local, cooperative strategies for waste reduction and sustainability, this is a great position for you! 
• Sharing Our Roots Regenerative Farm Summer Internship (CCCE), work with us as we envision a world where food and agriculture systems are profitable for farmers, fair to workers, beneficial to consumer health, restorative for rural communities and regenerative for the environment.
• Building Home Together, A Habitat for Humanity Social Media Summer Internship (CCCE), seeking a creative intern to support their social media marketing, including storytelling and social media campaigns.
• Sustainable Thrifting Summer Internship at Used a Bit Shoppe (CCCE), You will have ample opportunities to advance a culture of thrifting and upcycling and to maximize the impact of keeping items out of the landfill. This internship can be tailored to your thrifting interests.
• Northfield Middle School BLAST Summer Internship (CCCE), BLAST is a free program for Middle School students that strives to develop academic skills and abilities through engaging enrichment opportunities.
• Northfield Elementary School Summer PLUS Internship (CCCE), PLUS is a free program that strives to develop academic skills and abilities for students, as well as provide engaging enrichment opportunities.
• Affordable Housing Intern with the City of Northfield (CCCE), Are you interested in learning how city governments can increase and improve housing locally? Municipal governments have a unique set of levers at their disposal to incentivize the creation of housing to support low-income families and improve and maintain an aging housing stock.
• City of Northfield Community Development/Planning Intern (CCCE) Are you interested in how cities are planned? This internship focuses primarily on Planning and Zoning. Planners work with many different stakeholders to shape development within the city to meet the community’s desire for future growth. Current and upcoming projects include 5th and Water Street Redevelopment, private commercial and residential development projects, grant administration, the 2045 Comprehensive Plan, and more.
• Key Youth Center Staffer (CCCE)Provide a caring adult presence at The Key Youth Center on a schedule assigned by the youth board and Assistant Director. Responsibilities include providing social and emotional support for at-risk youth, creating and fostering developmental relationships with youth, empowering and supporting youth leadership, and other responsibilities as they arise. Tasks include supervising the youth center, tracking attendance, tracking programs, cleaning and maintenance, and other tasks as they arise. This also includes check-ins and follow-ups with the youth throughout the week both within and outside The Key.
• Key Youth Center Thrifting Coordinator (CCCE)Provide support for the Key’s involvement in Carleton’s Lighten Up thrift sale. Work directly on Lighten Up sale preparation during the month of June. Work alongside the Key youth volunteers at Lighten Up, including supervising the youth, tracking attendance, tracking tasks, and other duties as they arise. Explore outlets for Lighten Up resources that would benefit youth. Assist with food resource distribution to youth. The opportunity to create and foster developmental relationships with youth, empowering and supporting youth leadership. 
• Northfield Public Library Community Engagement and Outreach (CCCE) Northfield Public Library (NPL) is the heart and soul of Northfield. NPL works to connect with our community, promote lifelong learning, and provide information access to all Northfield residents. The Community Engagement & Outreach Assistant will provide key support to the library’s Outreach Coordinator and help “tell our library story” to community members and stakeholders.
• Communication Intern at Clean River Partners (CCCE) Help Clean River Partners find engaging ways to share educational opportunities, research, and stories about water and our area to engage more of our neighbors to join us! The Communications Intern will assist in Clean River Partner’s communications with members and broader community members to showcase our work and invite more folks in. They will take the lead on projects related to social media marketing, website development, and event coordination to amplify our message.
• Growing Up Healthy Resource Redistribution Summer Internship  (CCCE) Are you excited about providing a welcoming and supportive community for all? Are you wanting to use your skills to transform communities and build resiliency in our immigrant neighbors? Provide support for Growing Up Healthy’s involvement in Carleton’s Lighten Up thrift sale. Work directly on Lighten Up sale preparation during the month of June with a focus on local resource redistribution. Spend July and August supporting Evenings in the Park programming.

• Visit Northfield has lots of good suggestions 
• Riverwalk Market Fair, every Saturday from May 20st through October 21th from 9am-1pm in Bridge Square. Local produce, baked goods and artistry.
• Northfield Arts Guild has classes/performances
• Red Barn pizza night is delicious!
• Ride the East Cannon River Trail to Marthas for lunch or pastries
• Volunteer at the Community Action Food shelf
• Thrift shop at Used a Bit Shoppe, Clothes Closet, Thrifty Parrot, Vintage
• the Friends of Downtown Northfield
• Volunteer with Carleton Farm or Sharing our Roots with wildlife counts or farm days

Check out the city event calendar!