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Shareholder Development: Calista Internships
By Brenda Pacarro, Calista Workforce and Shareholder Development Supervisor
Storyknife, January/February 2019 edition
The Calista Region features vast tundra, majestic mountains and fish-filled rivers.
Calista Corporation is a regional Alaska Native Corporation—created in part to be an economic engine and provide dividends and jobs for our Shareholders.
As the Workforce and Shareholder Development Supervisor, I am committed to help create new opportunities, programs, and partnerships to prepare our Shareholders for the workforce. Calista has been successful in achieving these goals in the last few years. Now we have an exciting year ahead of us that will bring further opportunities for advancement.
Calista is very fortunate to have a robust internship program. In 2015, we expanded our original ten-week internship program for Shareholders attending a college, university or long-term trade school. We accomplished this by offering a separate two-week program for recent high school graduates who participated with EXCEL Alaska.
These internships come with several benefits for both Shareholders and our corporation.
This summer our ten-week internships are available in Alaska, Alabama, Hawaii, Texas, and Washington. Students apply work experience to classroom learning and gain soft skills while adding value to their resumes.
The construction trades are the primary focus of our two-week internship program for recent high school graduates. Students explore career paths necessary to become crane operators, welders, and heavy equipment mechanics.
“Internships offer a taste of various career path options along with short-term employment.”
To take internship opportunities a step further, we are beginning to focus on apprenticeship programs for our Shareholders. Internships offer a taste of various career path options along with short-term employment. Our apprenticeship program offers more long-term employment as it requires job immersion and dedication to a specific career path.
Currently, Calista has established the Alaska Maritime Apprenticeship Program with Brice Marine. We are looking to expand to other occupations such as construction management. Shareholders can further benefit from advancement opportunities as they become available.
It has been said, “when you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day, but if you teach him how to fish, you feed him for a lifetime.” If you apply this to Shareholder Development, providing a dividend feeds a Shareholder for a day. When a Shareholder obtains training or earns a degree, he or she can provide for a lifetime.
Application Deadline: March 21, 2019
Internship Program Dates: May 23-August 2, 2019