STLMade is a movement to share the stories of St. Louis and its people, to display the tenacity, grit, and big-heartedness of the people that live there. During our internship hop team's stint at Cannonball, we were charged with developing some strategies to get college students to start up, stand out, and stay in St. Louis after graduation. Among our ideas were a podcast focused on telling the stories of people who found success in St. Louis; a Summer Series of internships and camps to keep both high school and college students involved in St. Louis during the summers; and an STLMade Club, complete with a website that included professional development resources, success stories, the STLCast podcast, and a St. Louis specific job board.
During our team's second week at Cannonball, we developed the idea of the STLMade Club further, and narrowed the scope. We developed strategies and collateral for an iteration of the club at Saint Louis University, specifically targeted at student athletes. This club would include small weekly events, such as sessions related to professional development (cover letter writing, resume building), transferable skills, and mental health; as well as large events like an end-of-year gala, a panel with professionals in the sports industry, and keynote speakers like Larry Hughes and Jim Kavanaugh. The largest draw of this club would be the modified internship program. The club would leverage STLMade stakeholders to provide internship opportunities with modified hours to student athletes so that they would be able to gain professional experience despite their summer practice schedules.
Read the blog posts about our weeks at Cannonball here (week 1) and here (week 8).
Copy by Nicole Newman.