On-Campus Internship Program (OCIP)

The St. Lawrence University On-Campus Internship Program (OCIP) provides a unique experiential learning opportunity aimed at developing professional skills while enrolled as a full-time student. The OCIP involves tasks, activities and learning that go beyond what might be expected of a traditional student employee to include work requiring greater intellectual engagement and/or professional responsibility.

To be part of the program, internships must involve at least 50-75% substantive work engaging students in higher level professional activities, including, but not limited to, research, analysis, writing, data collection, and interacting and communicating with various audiences. The OCIP experience focuses on skill building, mentorship, learning, reflection and opportunities to develop/expand a professional network. A foundation of the OCIP is to provide reciprocity as a mutually beneficial experience for the student and internship provider. 

All OCIP positions will be posted on St. Lawrence’s Handshake platform and will include both eligibility requirements and a detailed internship description. OCIP internship are paid positions and require a minimum of 50 working hours per semester to be completed. 

In addition to work done for the department sponsoring the OCIP position, students participate in mandatory orientation to maximize their on-campus experiences. Students are compensated for their time while participating in OCIP orientation and professional development activities each semester on a variety of topics, some examples are outlined below:

• Spark Path card sort and a journal entry via Canvas 
• LinkedIn Learning session on how to “Develop an Authentic Elevator Pitch.
• Hands-on Microsoft excel training
• Purpose-driven education workshop 
• Networking workshop
• Interview preparation workshop 
• Mock interviewing event with local alumni and employers 
• LinkedIn Profile Workshop

Examples of OCIP roles