Internships & Community Service

At Whittier College, education goes beyond the confines of campus. Here, we know that classroom learning needs to be practically applied, and so getting out into the community (both for career training as well as civic involvement) is crucial for intellectual and character growth.

Whittier's location in Southern California, close to Los Angeles and thriving Orange County, gives students internship opportunities that will help them gain crucial business training and experience valuable for their post-Whittier lives. Industries ranging from entertainment to finance, aerospace to bioengineering, and more all call Southern California home, and Merrill Lynch and First Heritage Bank, Sony Pictures and New Line Cinema, EMI Music Publishing, the J.Paul Getty Museum, A.B.S. Designs by Allen Schwartz, Southern California Edison, and Valvoline are just some of the places that our students have interned. Whittier students often travel further afield as they gain invaluable work experience, whether interning at the Department of Energy in Washington, D.C., the United Nations in New York, or the Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago.

At the same time, civic involvement is immensely important here. Our College and Community Program, funded in part by the B.C. McCabe Foundation, brings together faculty, students, and staff from all sectors of the College to partner with non-profit organizations and local governments in Whittier and the neighboring communities. On average, 150 to 200 of our students work in the community—in internships and classes, or in volunteer service, and last year 70 organizations were involved as partners in some way. From tutoring at local schools and youth clubs, to serving as docents at museums, to conducting research for local hospitals, to working with environmental groups protecting the Whittier Hills, to traveling to New Orleans to help in the post-Katrina clean-up and rebuilding, our students are vitally involved in the local and global community.

OFFICE OF INTERNSHIPS & INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMS

Location: Philadelphia House, First Floor
Tel: 562.464.4530
Fax: 562.464.4539
Hours of operation: Monday - Friday, 8a.m. - 5:00p.m.

STAFF

Sally Cardenas, Director
Tel: 562. 464.4533
E-mail: scardenas@whittier.edu

Chris Hankawa, Program Assistant
Tel: 562.464.4530
E-mail: chankawa@whittier.edu