Student Experience & Planning Intern

Student Experience & Planning Intern

Chicago Scholars is excited to welcome a Student Experience & Planning Intern to help plan and execute Scholar Con 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, Scholar Con creates pathways to college success, career mobility, and lifelong leadership.

Tentatively planned for October 2027, Scholar Con 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 Scholar Con 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 Scholar Con Event Partner, participating in regular planning touchpoints and contributing to shared creative and logistical work streams.

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 work streams.)

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 Scholar Con 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 Scholar Con
• 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…