The National Society of Leadership and Success chose senior communication studies major Summer Chiu to start a chapter on campus, and internship opportunities for students have already grown from it.
IMPACTING THE WORLD
The NSLS promotes collegiate leadership in the working world, producing nearly 89 percent of members who claim to have reached their career goal straight out of college, and a staggering 83 percent of whom attribute that success to their membership, according to the NSLS. Chiu, the newly-inaugurated Biola chapter president of NSLS, is passionate about the purpose of the society and eager to explain the means to achieve it. Chiu applied for the internship, which was enormously selective.
“The internship had a 6 percent acceptance rate, so a lot of people didn’t get it,” Chiu said.
She had to fly to New Jersey for official training at the corporation’s headquarters over the summer in order to begin the chapter.
“As Christians, [through NSLS] we can impact the world through our leadership capabilities for Christ… It’s very important to realize that, traditionally, being successful is making a lot of money,” Chiu said. “I think being successful is about so much more than money. It’s about impacting the world, and impacting people, and changing people’s lives, and making a real difference.”
MUCH MORE THAN AN INTERNSHIP
The Society implements a process called the Three Threes in which a delegate may acquire membership status. After this, the member gains access to all benefits the Society offers, including exclusive scholarships and an online job bank, which displays internships as well as potential career-listings that members can connect with.
Chiu’s position counts as an internship with the title of President to the Society, though she will receive a stipend upon her graduation this spring. Chiu attributes her pursuit of the internship to the persistent work of Bible exposition graduate student and administrative coordinator in the communication studies department, Sarah Schwartz of the Communication Studies department, who alerted all students in the major of internship opportunities related to their major.
“This is an internship for me, for the NSLS, but honestly it’s so much more than that for me. I’m so much about leadership and the mission and I think that this is something that Biola actually needs,” Chiu said.
Chiu’s passion for the process and the implications of joining this group shined brightly upon one topic in the conversation: Success Networking Teams. SNT’s are groups of students ranging from five to seven individuals who work together to keep one another accountable and push one another to success and pre-established goals.
GAINING EXPERIENCE
Since the chapter has only recently been established on Biola’s campus, the Fall 2015 semester will not yield member induction. Letters of invitation to students interested in the society will be sent out in February once the chapter has an established and trained executive board — induction begins shortly afterwards the spring 2016 semester for the first group of applicants.
Schwartz mentioned that most departments often offer/require class credit for internships, typically requiring 60 hours of volunteer intern work per unit obtained. Members of the NSLS executive board receiving class credit is very much a legitimate possibility, regardless of major. However, in order to earn the credit, the student must prove how much time and effort the internship requires through a proposal turned into the department.
More specifically, Schwartz said that the communication studies department does offer academic credit for internships that communication studies students participate in.
“The department knows that so much of success in your career post-college is about the right kind of experience on your resume and connections that you’ve made as an undergraduate, so we try to encourage students to put themselves out there,” Schwartz said.
Joel Marlette, senior sociology major and off-campus commuter senator for the Student Government Association, said the chapter would likely make off-campus students feel more equipped to be leaders in the world after graduation.
“I would definitely say that Summer is an excellent people-person who has a passion to help people not only feel connected and part of the bigger community, but to feel loved. She’s great at leading others in a positive way and helping them feel connected, and I think that carriers over to her starting this new chapter here at Biola,” Marlette said.
