National student advocacy internship with OpenStax

We’re looking for storytellers and education advocates to bring the student perspective to the forefront of the education landscape as paid interns at OpenStax, a nonprofit education technology initiative based at Rice University. Ten creative students with a passion for education and social justice will join our national student internship program this fall to center students in conversations about education. Interns will work to impact policies and practices around affordability, course materials, and pedagogy, and travel to two professional conferences.

Interns will learn about current issues, debates, and advocacy work in higher education, travel to professional conferences, and publish blog posts sharing their perspectives and experiences. Both to broaden their knowledge of education advocacy and to make sure that student voices are represented, interns will attend the annual Open Education Conference (Open Ed) this October in Phoenix. Each student will also develop a project that tackles an affordability or accessibility issue on their campus. As a culmination of the project, students will be a part of our Creator Fest conference in March 2020 hosted in Houston, Texas. All of this work will happen alongside the other student interns, OpenStax team members, and advocacy experts there to provide support and feedback. 

Each student will create a series of content posts that will be published throughout the fall and winter. The series will kick off at Open Ed, where students will attend conference sessions, live-Tweet their sessions, and share their unique perspectives. As the year continues, students will continue to share posts (via blog and social media) that cover issues on their campuses, their take on problems and questions in the education world, and updates and outcomes for their projects. 

The internship is paid, and all travel costs are covered. Interns do not need to be based in Houston – students who are currently attending an institution in the U.S., Canada, or Mexico are welcome to apply. 

OpenStax is a nonprofit educational initiative based at Rice University, and it's our mission to give every student the tools they need to be successful in the classroom. We publish over 30 open-source textbooks that are free online and low-cost in print. Our books have been used by 6 million students and counting – maybe you or a friend have used one in a class! You can learn more about us at https://www.openstax.org/about.