A good friend of mine, Eric Knapp, is a teacher at Madison College in Madison, WI. He’s an awesome teacher and has a ton of smart students come through his classes. One of his students, Kathryn Sweet, guest-posted on the Anita Borg Institute’s Medium account about her experiences with being turned down for internships because she’s treated as an inferior student.
Closing off internships to community college students disproportionately affects students of color, lower-income students, and students who are supporting families.
It’s incredibly stupid to consider community college students as unqualified for internships. I started my college career off with a two-year degree at Milwaukee Area Technical College – an institution related to Madison College where Kathryn attends. I got a great education there and it jump-started my drive to go further with a bachelor’s and master’s degrees. Had I not attended MATC and gotten a job with an employer willing to pay for my tuition I may not be where I am today.
Read her post and if you’re in the position of being involved with hiring at your company, take it to heart.