This week, UNT Dallas is marking a milestone. 30 years ago State Senator Royce West started the Dr. Emmett J. Conrad Leadership Program to give primarily minority students paid internships.
"You know right now as a college student, everything that's put in front of me is a learning opportunity, and I can take valuable lessons and implement those things in my life," UNT Dallas junior education major and Conrad Leadership Program intern Asia Harvey said. "I would say it gives us a leg up, especially when putting things on our resume that we did."
Research shows minority students are less likely to get paid internships, which can translate to longer job searches and lower pay in the work sector.
"In the summer of 1999 is when I was an intern in the Conrad Leadership Program," Texas Tech and Conrad Leadership alumna Victoria Elliott said. "The paid internship, it actually allowed me to save money for my books, for college. You know being a college student, I was on financial aid. I was first in my family to go and continue on to do my MBA."
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Now Elliott owns her own Geico insurance office in DFW and mentors new interns in the Conrad Leadership Program.
"Your parents tell you, just work hard and go to college and do all these things, but there's so much more to it than that," Elliott said. "It taught me so much! I think that the most important thing that you can teach a young person is how to interact in the workplace in a way that's safe."
"You get paid internships, but also, like, it's the connections that you develop, the relationships," Harvey said. "So it makes a lasting impact on a student."
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Nearly 3,000 North Texas students have received paid internships through the program.
The Conrad Leadership Program is administered by UNT Dallas, but any student from Sen. West's 23rd congressional district and nearby districts who goes to college in the U.S. can apply.
