Pre-Internship Projects

• Build your organization’s brand in the largest college at the University of Minnesota (CLA)
• Expand your organization’s candidate pool for internships and recruiting needs. Project participants may be your next best employee!
• Strengthen your capacity to serve your community, develop new initiatives or enhance existing programs with fresh ideas.

• Identify a project concept or need at your organization. This list of project concept ideas (PDF) can help you get started.
• Provide clear outcomes for students completing the project.
• Host students on-site two of the five days for a project launch meeting and a final Project Showcase where students will present their project outcomes.
• Participate in 2-3 virtual check-in meetings throughout the week.

Organizations can host projects during either of our two annual cycles, which are timed to coincide with students' academic schedules."

Upcoming cycles

May term: May 19-22, 2026

You can meet with a CLA staff member to work through the details of your project, as well as your project outcomes. We will help make sure that the project has definition and clear roles for our student teams as they collaborate. 

Once the project week starts, you will have an assigned CLA staff member to support you and your students throughout the week. 

Not at this time. We have found that a hybrid model is ideal for team cohesion and meeting project outcomes in the short term format.

Students receive $600 for their participation in a pre-internship project. By providing compensation, you are creating an accessible entrance point for students who often hold historically underserved identities. Student participants of this program often experience barriers to gaining access to experiences and networks that are necessary for success after graduation.

We ask that organizations who would like to support a team of students provide funding to compensate their student teams. In the circumstances that your organization is unable to provide funding to compensate your student teams, a CLA staff member will work with you to discuss options. 

Yes! While pre-internship projects center student learning and career growth, our hope is that students will gain real experience creating something tangible. Students will be proud to have an organization use their work!