In its record-breaking 28th year, the Hillel of Illinois Harriet and Maurice Lewis Summer Intern Program (LSIP) welcomed 38 interns to JUF, the largest cohort that LSIP has ever hosted.

Each year, LSIP places top-performing college students at non-profit organizations across the Chicago area. LSIP Interns learn, hands-on, about the Chicago Jewish community and the non-profits that serve it while gaining work experience and professional skills. Many interns even become Jewish professionals after they graduate.

Now, for the first time in its history, LSIP has placed interns in for-profit companies, which will help interns develop a larger set of skills to take into their professional lives. This year, seven interns have been placed with for-profit concerns, including Associated Agencies, VNA Healthtrends, ICM Properties, Next Realty, Much Shelist, and Yastrow and Company.

These for-profit placements were identified by Jewish lay leaders, and many of their supervisors serve on Hillel boards and are involved in campus affairs. The supervisors are excited to help shape the professional development skills and Jewish identity of the college students they are employing.

Adam Winick, co-owner of ICM Properties, shared his thoughts on the recent addition of for-profits to the program. “We were excited when approached to join the Lewis Summer Intern Program this summer. I think LSIP offers very dedicated, hardworking, and ethical interns who want to succeed in the business world and give back to their community at the same time,” he said. “I look at this as a win-win situation for both the for-profit companies and JUF. I would have loved to be a part of an experience like this when I was in school!”

Evan Frank, a rising senior at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, interning at VNA Healthtrends, is eager to work at a for-profit to gain valuable work experience. He said, “Learning that LSIP now offers for-profit internship opportunities was definitely a selling point when finalizing internship plans this summer. I am looking most forward to applying what I learn to my studies at school. I will also be able to gain experience in my field of interest.”

In addition to their specific placement, the 38 interns will come together for weekly seminars at JUF. The interns will have the opportunity to learn professional development skills from Jewish Vocational Services, Spertus Institute for Jewish Learning and Leadership, and Jewish professionals from an array of professional fields. Interns will participate in discussions with their peers about their Jewish generation, identity, and Jewish pluralism. Each week, different board members, lay leaders, and Jewish community members from the Chicago area will speak to the interns, helping to build each one’s Jewish professional future.

Eliana Block, a rising junior at the University of Maryland, College Park, will intern with the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center. “The seminars, social aspect, and professional fieldwork are what really drew me to the LSIP this summer,” she said. “Working alongside students from for-profit companies is also a plus!”

Tori Weinstein is the Assistant Director of the Lewis Summer Internship Program.

The Hillels of Illinois is a department of JUF/Federation, and a branch of Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life.