Call for Applications: Program Assistant Internship with Santa Cruz County’s Youth Poet Laureate Program

Application Deadline: March 3, 2024 

The Humanities Division is excited to announce an experiential learning opportunity for Humanities undergraduates at UC Santa Cruz to work with Farnaz Fatemi, Santa Cruz County Poet Laureate, on the Youth Poet Laureate Program. Internships connect Humanities majors and minors to projects in the community, with the aim of mutually benefiting students and organizations. Students gain practical experience, professional training, and learn about positions outside of the university that build on their studies in the Humanities. At the same time, community organizations benefit from students’ assistance and academic expertise. 

About Farnaz Fatemi 

Farnaz Fatemi, an Iranian American poet and writer and Santa Cruz County Poet Laureate for 2023 & 2024, is a founding member of The Hive Poetry Collective, a member of Writers of Color – Santa Cruz County, and a former Lecturer in Writing at UCSC. In summers she teaches new transfer students in UCSC’s Transfer Edge program. Her book, Sister Tongue زبان خواهر, was published in September 2022. It won the Stan and Tom Wick Poetry Prize, selected by Tracy K. Smith, won an honorable mention from the Foreword Indies, and received a Starred Review from Publisher’s Weekly. She is a California Individual Artist Fellow and an Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellow. Visit her website to learn more. 

Position Description

The Youth Poet Laureate acts as an advocate and county ambassador for poetry, social action and civic engagement. They will champion their own poetic practice while also encouraging their peers to take part in the artform through readings, workshops and appearances at events and engagements throughout the county. You’ll work directly with the Santa Cruz County Poet Laureate (PL) on programs for youth, specifically the inaugural Youth Poet Laureate (YPL) program. Intern will support the YPL program in a range of potential ways, including planning poetry opportunities for the cohort, including workshops both for and by the younger poets mentoring the poets for public readings, organizing events & appearances, outreach to schools for YPL class visits. The intern will also support the PL with other organizational tasks related to the YPL program as a whole.

RESPONSIBILITIES AND EXPECTATIONS 

• (25%) Researching and pursuing opportunities for youth poets—reading, publication, mentoring, etc. 
• (25%) Outreach to classrooms & poetry clubs in support of the inaugural cohort (YPL + three finalists); publicity for YPLs and programs. 
• (20%) Developing/writing content for new website for the youth poet laureate program;
• (20%) Helping the PL to document the annual cycle of procedures and tasks in order to keep the program running into the future, especially so that the program can continue to be institutionally supported by the Santa Cruz Public Libraries; 
• (10%) Researching nationwide YPL programs and report on what other municipalities are doing; collaborating with other programs in the bay area if opportunities arise  

Required Skills, Knowledge, and Abilities

• Interest in supporting teen writers and willingness to provide mentoring or support for their development
• Comfort and competence with writing formal email to strangers for outreach and research
• Strong writing skills
• Competence with word processing and spreadsheet software.

Preferred Skills, Knowledge, and Abilities  

• Experience mentoring peers or youth.

• Experience with Canva and other tools used for publicity and marketing.  

Internship Term: Spring Quarter 2024 (with potential to extend) 

Hours: 10 hours/week

Compensation: $20/hour

Location: This is a hybrid role –  You can expect weekly contact with the Poet Laureate in Downtown Santa Cruz, including in person meetings every other week

Reports to:  Farnaz Fatemi, Santa Cruz County Poet Laureate

How To Apply

Apply by submitting your resume and a short cover letter (no more than one page) answering these questions: Why this job? Why you? What do you hope to gain from this internship?

• COVER LETTER TIP: consider how this position will further your undergraduate studies as well as your professional career once you have completed your education. 
• REVIEW these resume and cover letter resources to ensure that you are a strong candidate! 

Once the application window closes on March 3 , there will be a virtual interview process with top candidates. A candidate will be selected,and the hiring process will begin by March 22, 2024. This position is expected to begin the week of April 1, 2024 (Week 1 of Spring Quarter). 

Please contact Experiential Learning Coordinator Kylie Rachwalski at hum-experiential-learning@ucsc.edu with any questions about this opportunity.

NOTE: 

This internship is compensated through either student employment with UCSC or through a scholarship award. If you’re a financial aid applicant, the scholarship award option would be incorporated into your aid offer to meet your budgeted cost of attendance. A student must have room in their financial aid package to receive an experiential learning scholarship award.  In most cases the award will fill any gap between your aid and budget, or the award will reduce your loan obligation. Once factored into your aid offer, the award is paid through to your UC Santa Cruz student account. If you owe fees for the term in which the award is applied, the award will apply to those fees first. Any remaining funds will be issued to you via direct deposit or by check, depending on how you are signed up to receive refunds. A student must have room in their financial aid package to get a department award. If the scholarship award is for summer, you need to be enrolled in 6+ units. 

If you have questions about how this award would affect your current aid, please contact the Financial Aidand Scholarship Office at finaid@ucsc.edu or 831-459-2963.

This undergraduate internship is generously supported by The Mellon Foundation.