Ten Millsaps College students will be working at summer internships in Meridian this summer thanks to a $122,000 grand from the Phil Hardin Foundation.

The program is scheduled to begin this summer and will provide students with 8-to-10 week internships with various organizations and housing, according to a news release from Millsaps College.

The program is expected to provide students with a $5,000 stipend, an opportunity to obtain job skills and a connection to Meridian, Ryan Colvin, director of the Millsaps Center for Career Education, said.

“Students who need income over the summer are often forced to choose between an internship that will advance their career goals and a summer job that may not progress or complement their desired career outcomes, but they won’t have to make that choice with this new internship program,” Colvin said in a statement.

The Mississippi Arts & Entertainment Experience, the Meridian Museum of Art, East Mississippi Business Development Corp., Rush Health Systems, the Meridian Freedom Project, the Meridian Council for the Arts and the Community Development Department of the city of Meridian have agreed to accept interns, according to the news release.

“News reports in recent months have confirmed that Mississippi is losing its millennial population at a faster rate than any state in the nation,” Kenneth Townsend, director of the Institute for Civic and Professional Engagement at Millsaps, said in a statement. “Many young people are leaving the state, including communities such as Meridian, not because they want to leave but because they feel forced out because they are unable to find suitable and meaningful work opportunities after they graduate from college.

“If Mississippi is to slow, and eventually reverse, the so-called brain drain of our millennial population, we must be creative, intentional, and tireless in cultivating student populations that can thrive amidst adversity, and we must establish programs and pipelines that connect our state’s young people with opportunities beyond college.”

The initial grant funds the internships for the summers of 2019 and 2020.

“We’re excited about this program from multiple perspectives,” Lloyd Gray, executive director of the Meridian-based Phil Hardin Foundation, said in a statement. “We know Millsaps will provide exceptional students as interns, and several of the organizations they will work for are our local grantees as well. By the same token, we know these organizations will provide a high-quality work experience for the students.

“It’s our hope that after an immersive experience in the history, culture, and current opportunities in Meridian, some of the students may consider locating in Meridian at some point after graduation.”

Anna Watson, director of the Meridian Freedom Project, an academic and leadership program for sixth through 12th graders, has provided assistance with considerations such as where interns will live and opportunities for them to socialize, according to the news release.

Meridian Community College will provide housing, according to the news release.

For more information, contact Ryan Colvin, director of the Millsaps Center for Career Education, at 601-974-1346 or colvird@millsaps.edu.