Correction: A previous version of this article was incorrectly categorized as news instead of lifestyle. It has now been corrected.
The Faculty Diversity Internship Program, which intentionally recruits diverse interns based on race, gender and disability in the hopes of diversifying the faculty so they better reflect the demographics of the student population, highlighted interns during their celebration at LAC on Thursday.
The program’s goal is to recruit graduate students who are interested in possibly pursuing a career in higher education, specifically targeting community college opportunities.
The ceremony began with multiple speakers, which included graduates Elissa Saucedo and Erick Garcia.
“I’m really deciding if I am going for my Ph.D. or applying as a faculty member. I think I will go through the Ph.D. route first, but the end goal is to teach at Long Beach City College,” program graduate Garcia said.
“That has been my goal since the very beginning and I do want to come back and potentially be a full-time professor here,” Garcia said.
Garcia was in the program for an academic year and first heard about it from faculty when he was a student.
He was told to keep the program in the back of his mind, in case he ever wanted a career in teaching down the line.
The program is a year-long internship which culminated with thirteen interns graduating in the program’s second annual graduation ceremony.
Each intern would have a mentor which would provide them with classroom and instruction experiences, while also providing six hours of their expertise a week to interns in the 2023 spring semester.
Alina Yang, the Coordinator of the FDIP, is also a full-time teacher in the LBCC reading department with 20 total years of teaching experience.
Before taking over in her first year as coordinator, Yang was actually involved with the program as a mentor for the last two years.
With those 20 years of experience, Yang knew the troubles that one could face as a beginning teacher. So, being able to help out future teachers by sharing her own experiences is what drives her.
“We set these new educators up for success and that’s why we do what we do,” said Yang.
Prior to and after the ceremony the guests and graduates were greeted with music from a student and faculty jazz group, Fetanol.
The Faculty Diversity Internship Program is currently looking for more potential interns for the next scholastic year.