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Call for Applications: Humanities EXCEL Fellowship with Lookout Santa Cruz–Editorial Fellow, Audience Engagement 2025-2026

We encourage work-study and non-work-study students to apply. This internship is only open to undergraduate students with a declared or proposed Humanities major or minor and requires work authorization.

Application Deadline: May 18, 2025

The Humanities Experiential Career Exploration and Learning (EXCEL) Program connects undergraduate Humanities majors and minors with community partners for paid internships. Fellows gain valuable professional experience while exploring potential career paths.

Internship Details

Partner Organization: Lookout Santa Cruz

Location: In person at Lookout’s office, 1523 Pacific Ave. in downtown Santa Cruz

Duration: Academic Year 2025–26 (September–June)

Hours: 10 hours/week

Pay: $20/hour

Mentorship: You will report to Lookout’s Managing Editor. The partner supervisor will delegate tasks and review your work, provide coaching, and help you understand what working in this field is like. You will meet to check in at least once per week

What You’ll Do – Editorial Fellow, Audience Engagement

Are you curious about digital journalism and passionate about connecting with the community to tell the stories of Santa Cruz County? Duties will vary based on the interests of the applicant and the needs of the newsroom, but fellows may have the opportunity to work closely with various members of Lookout’s editorial operations, including reporters, editors, photographers, and our production team. Learn the art of digital storytelling by assisting with social media and audience development. Curate and create engaging content, both on our website and social media. Manage our community resources and databases, such as our public events calendar, and work with our production team to ensure Lookout stories are distributed widely.

Those with an interest in reporting and writing could have an opportunity to work on stories and opinion pieces. Fellows who have a passion for the English language, including fact-checking, grammar, and spelling, could gain experience in editing.

  • 60% — Draft and curate editorial content to be published on our website and shared within email newsletters. Including but not limited to event recommendations, Ask Lookout, Briefs, and other community news updates.
  • 30% — Create social media content that engages our readers, builds our online following, and shares important information across our channels.
  • 10% – Solicit feedback from readers and members on ways to improve and fill any gaps in our coverage

Eligibility & Qualifications

  • You must be a declared or proposed major or minor in a Humanities Division department and have good academic standing. If proposed, declare by June.
    • Eligible majors: Applied Linguistics and Multilingualism, Classical Studies, Critical Race and Ethnic Studies, Feminist Studies, History, Jewish Studies, Language Studies, Linguistics, Literature, Philosophy, Spanish Studies
    • Eligible minors: Black Studies, Classical Studies, East Asian Studies, History of Consciousness, History, Italian Studies, Jewish Studies, Language Studies, Linguistics, Literature, Middle Eastern and North African Studies, Philosophy, Spanish Studies
  • You have work authorization (required)
  • You can work independently and collaboratively (required)
  • You have a passion for local news and a willingness to learn, try new things, and give and receive feedback.
  • You are curious about issues affecting the local community and events across Santa Cruz County.
  • You’re obsessed with accuracy, attention to detail, and meeting deadlines.
  • You have digital and social media experience or a willingness to learn.
  • You have experience with creating written or visual content for an online publication.
  • You’re a self-starter who appreciates an in-office work environment. You can work independently, collaboratively, and proactively to identify new ways of reaching digital readers and topics of interest to a local audience.

Bonus points for:

  • Published journalism experience, including online or student publications or freelance.
  • Bilingual English/Spanish proficiency.
  • Interest in or experience with SEO.
  • Interest in or experience with data visualizations, including sourcing and mining data sets.
  • You are interested in finding local stories and engaging with readers online, including platforms like TikTok and Threads.

How To Apply

  • Updated resume
  • 1-page cover letter addressing:
    • Why you’re interested in this role and Lookout Santa Cruz (explore their website!)
    • How does your background and skills apply
    • What do you hope to gain from the experience
    • For this position, please specify any journalism experience in your cover letter (including journalism-adjacent experiences, like essay-writing, interviewing people for research projects, and creating digital/social media content), or your general interest in journalism.
    • Address your letter to the Lookout Team
  • Writing samples (ideally published journalistic work, but class assignments or communications work you’ve done will be acceptable).

Review these resume and cover letter resources to ensure you are a strong candidate! For application help, see Humanities Career Engagement.

APPLY NOW


Questions? Email Kylie Rachwalski at hum-experiential-learning@ucsc.edu

The Mellon Foundation, The Helen and Will Webster Foundation, The Humanities Institute, the UCSC Humanities Division, and private donors generously support the Humanities EXCEL Program.

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Misconduct Disclosure Requirement:

As a condition of employment, the final candidate who accepts a conditional offer of employment will be required to disclose if they have been subject to any final administrative or judicial decisions within the last seven years determining that they committed any misconduct; received notice of any allegations or are currently the subject of any administrative or disciplinary proceedings involving misconduct; have left a position after receiving notice of allegations or while under investigation in an administrative or disciplinary proceeding involving misconduct; or have filed an appeal of a finding of misconduct with a previous employer.

  1. “Misconduct” means any violation of the policies or laws governing conduct at the applicant’s previous place of employment, including, but not limited to, violations of policies or laws prohibiting sexual harassment, sexual assault, or other forms of harassment, discrimination, dishonesty, or unethical conduct, as defined by the employer. For reference, below are UC’s policies addressing some forms of misconduct: