Student Experience & Planning Intern

Reports to: Managing Director of Partnerships

About Chicago Scholars

Chicago Scholars is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit leadership development organization that empowers academically ambitious first-generation or low-income students to overcome systemic barriers to success in college and beyond while preparing the city’s businesses and organizations for the next generation of leaders.

Since 1996, Chicago Scholars has built a legacy of success by investing in our youth and amplifying their leadership. Our Scholars are high-achieving first-generation college students and students from low-income communities, and they have the talent, heart, and big dreams to become our next generation of leaders and transform our city. 

At its core, our work is about economic mobility, leadership development, and belonging. It’s about making sure our Scholars have everything they need to journey from Chicago’s classrooms to Chicago’s boardrooms—or to wherever their dreams may lead.

Chicago Scholars is transforming the leadership landscape of our city by resolving the fundamental barriers to success for academically driven, first-generation college students from under-resourced communities. Through college counseling, mentoring, and by providing a supportive community to our Scholars through each phase of our program: College Readiness, College Success, and Career and Leadership Advancement, we ensure that they realize their full potential as students and leaders.

76% of Chicago Scholars graduate college within 6 years. Per the University of Chicago Consortium on Chicago School Research, only 49% of their peers earn a degree within 6 years. Upon graduation, our Scholars move into leadership positions across Chicago, helping to drive the economic future of their communities and our thriving city.

READI Commitment 

At Chicago Scholars we strive to prepare our Scholars for the world and the world for our Scholars. Our dual focus on Scholars and the world is essential to our strategy. To achieve these goals, we center racial justice, equity, accessibility, diversity, and inclusion (READI) in all that we do. 

Chicago Scholars’ commitment to READI encompasses all of our stakeholders—from our staff to our board, from our volunteers to our partnering organizations, and most importantly our Scholars. This holistic approach is necessary for the sustained, long-term, positive impact that we seek for our Scholars, our neighborhoods, our city, and our world.

To learn more about Chicago Scholars commitment to READI, please visit chicagoscholars.org/readi.

At Chicago Scholars, we believe that education is social justice. That's why we're empowering Chicago's best and brightest first-generation college students and students from low-income communities with the mentors, resources, and opportunities to go to our nation's best colleges and universities, graduate on time, and become Chicago's next generation of leaders. Since 1996, we've impacted the lives of more than 5,000 young leaders in Chicago.

Our Values

These are a set of guiding principles that apply to all stakeholders within the Chicago Scholars ecosystem. We select and retain stakeholders based on these stated expectations for how we achieve our mission and vision. Each is supported with core competencies and narrative for the sake of clarity.

We Dream Big. We speak up, innovate, push the boundaries and keep the creativity flowing. We don’t accept the status quo because the stakes are too high. We have an incredible belief that growth and change is possible. While we dream big, we are laser focused on our intended goals and outcomes for our Scholars, our city and the world.

We Show Up. We show up every day; not just physically, but with a positive attitude and willingness to work, connect, challenge, engage, solve problems and have fun. We don’t wait for someone to tell us what to do. We take action and get the job done. If we don’t know how, we figure it out through our knowledge, exploration or our network.

We Embrace Our Differences. We represent a multicultural nation and our collective backgrounds, experiences, styles, values, perspectives and beliefs are an asset to the world. We recognize that together we achieve better outcomes more quickly. Justice and equity starts with us using our collective voice.

We Model the Way. We exhibit the behavior that we want to see in others and in the world. Titles are granted, but our behavior is what earns us respect. In order to model the way, we must be clear about our guiding principles, celebrate our accomplishments and learn from our challenges and failures.

We Care For Each Other. We adapt to the needs of the person in front of us. We pause, reflect and listen. We do our best work when we are in good relationship together. We care personally and challenge directly.

We Keep Our Word. When we commit, we are all in. Whether for events, a Scholar, a peer or ourselves. Our words are as powerful as our actions and are the building block of trust, respect, self-worth and integrity.

Position Summary

Chicago Scholars is excited to welcome a Student Experience & Planning Intern to help plan and execute ScholarCon 2027—our flagship convening designed to unite students, partners, and community leaders in advancing a more equitable future for Chicago youth. By bringing together high-potential, first-generation, and underrepresented young people with colleges, employers, and mission-aligned organizations, ScholarCon creates pathways to college success, career mobility, and lifelong leadership. Tentatively planned for October 2027, ScholarCon is intentionally being built as a student-centered, culturally relevant, and high-energy experience. 

This intern is not “extra help”—they are an integral part of the planning team, ensuring ScholarCon remains truly student-facing by bringing real-time student perspective, ideas, and feedback into decisions about programming, activations, communications, and brand expression.

While the intern will report directly to Chicago Scholars, they will collaborate closely with our ScholarCon Event Partner, participating in regular planning touchpoints and contributing to shared creative and logistical workstreams.

You’ll gain hands-on experience in:

• Event strategy and execution for a major citywide convening
• Marketing, social content creation, and brand feedback loops
• Stakeholder engagement, pitching, and public speaking
• Research and data-informed decision-making within event planning

This role is a part-time & hourly position without benefits. The rate per hour is $17/hour, and the number of hours that you will be permitted to work each week is up to 15 hours on average. The number of hours per week can be flexible to accommodate school schedules and heavy project periods.

Key Responsibilities: (Responsibilities may flex across the planning cycle; the intern will be invited into both creative and operational workstreams.)

1) Student-facing programming & activations

• Brainstorm, propose, and refine student activations that drive engagement, belonging, and “wow” moments
• Provide feedback on session concepts, programming tracks, and on-site experiences—ensuring they resonate with students and reflect student needs
• Bring culturally relevant strategies so ScholarCon is truly student-facing across identity, language, style, music, visuals, and      community norms
• Serve as a Scholar voice on the planning team, surfacing insights from peers and student communities

2) Social media & content creation (evergreen + day-of)

• Create and/or support development of evergreen content that builds excitement and awareness leading up to ScholarCon
• Support day-of social content (photo/video capture ideas, short-form scripts, posts, stories, on-site moments)
• Contribute      to content brainstorming that highlights student stories, community energy, and key event themes

3) Branding, visuals, and creative ideation feedback

• Provide feedback on brand explorations, visual directions, and creative concepts—especially through a student lens
• Assist with light branding support (idea boards, references, student trend insights, language suggestions)

4) Event planning support (logistics + communications)

• Support planning tasks and coordination: notes, task tracking, timelines, communications drafts, and outreach support as needed
• Help prepare for and participate in planning meetings with Chicago Scholars and the Event Partner (including weekly huddles when applicable)

5) Research, data collection, and analysis

• Assist with research to inform decisions (e.g., student preferences, activation benchmarks, vendor/program ideas)
• Support data collection and synthesis of feedback (polls, quick surveys, listening sessions, debrief notes)

6) Public speaking, pitching, and stakeholder engagement

• Support moments where student voice is needed in external-facing contexts: brief remarks, pitches, partner conversations, or on-stage roles (as comfortable and appropriate)

Additional Responsibilities

• This role will occasionally work on nights and weekends for Scholar and Development events and programming and may have the opportunity to manage an intern. This role is also required to attend and support mandatory all staff events
• Other duties, as assigned   

• Must be a current Chicago Scholars Program college student 
• Education: High school diploma, some college  
• Experience: 1-2 years of work experience (preferred) 
• Residing in Chicago is strongly preferred
• Optional:

o At least a college sophomore heading into junior year, and expected to still be enrolled in college through October 2027

o Interest and/or academic focus in advertising, branding, marketing, communications, or public relations (or related experience)

Skills and Strengths

• Creative thinker who enjoys brainstorming and building student-centered experiences 
• Comfortable giving and receiving candid feedback (respectfully) and representing peer perspectives 
• Strong communication skills (written + verbal) and social media fluency 
• Reliable, organized, and able to juggle multiple moving pieces 
• Curious and coachable—ready to learn event planning in a real-world environment

Core Competencies

• Accountability/Project Management: Effectively manages own work, and work of teams when relevant, ensuring delivery of high-quality work.
• Teamwork/Collaboration: Demonstrates awareness and respect of cultural and individual values. Listens to ideas from others, even when different from own. Is careful to ensure all sides are heard reaching a conclusion. Shares time, energy and knowledge with others to ensure they can succeed.
• Communication: Communication is the ability to read and interpret information effectively, clearly articulate a plan of action, and influence others by way of written and verbal mechanisms.
• Adaptability: Ability to operate flexibly in changing contexts and operating environments. Ability to manage change effectively to support teams and reach intended goals.

AI Literacy & Engagement

Our team leverages AI to augment human creativity and enhance impact. In this role, you will be encouraged to experiment with AI tools to improve your work and drive efficiency. We seek individuals who demonstrate curiosity about emerging technologies and are comfortable integrating AI into everyday tasks. You will proactively identify areas of friction in workflows where AI can improve speed, quality, or insight, while maintaining a strong understanding of data security, privacy, and ethical considerations in AI use.

Starting Salary: Starting Salary: $17 per hour, usually 15 hours per week (part-time hourly role without benefits)

Best Offer First Policy: The data nationally show for every $1 paid to white men, women earn 82 cents, black men earn 88 cents, and black women earn 76 cents.  Women and black and brown people are also less likely to negotiate than their white male peers. Chicago Scholars has decided to offer our best offer first rather than wait for a potential negotiation. This allows us to set salaries based on market data and internal equity and ensure fair and equal pay for every role. 

If you have questions regarding either of the above policies, or any of Chicago Scholars employment policies, please reach out to the Human Resources team at humanresources@chicagoscholars.org with the subject line: Policy Question.

To Apply

Please click 'Apply' to submit your application which should include a resume.