Georgia Southern University students are eligible to apply for paid internships and scholarships provided by Belk.

Belk and GSU collaborated to provide 10 internships for students interested in high retail sale positions.

“[Belk has] a lot of different [internships] when it comes to the different sectors that Belk has,” Bruce Philips, director of Career Services, said. “You have business, fashion merchandising and a lot of other things that goes into the retail sales industry.”

The only paid internship program that Belk provides to the students is the executive leadership internship offered during the summer, Philips said.

“It is a really neat experience for a variety of majors to come in and get a lot of management experience, cross-training and they get to see a lot of different sides of the industry,” Philips said. “All in an internship time period.”

The scholarships, worth $20,000, are incorporated with a selected number of paid summer internships. There are 10 paid internships that are available for students, Dr. Dora Bock, director of the Center for Retail Studies, said.

The summer internships are opened to all GSU students of any major.

Regional representatives from Belk will come to GSU to conduct interviews. They will choose at least 10 candidates for their summer internships.

“They want to make at least 10 offers for summer paid internships and selected interns will get a minimum of $2,000 scholarship,” Bock said.

This allows some students to gain money through the paid internships and also have an additional $2,000 to add to the internship.

Another $5,000 donation will allow a selected group of students to travel to New York City to attend a major business conference. These students will have the opportunity to meet CEOs of major corporations that attend the show, Bock said.

“I think it’s a wonderful opportunity for students,” Headden said.

“So many times [students] say ‘I spend the money on an internship.’ All the money that goes into a scholarship and to get paid on top of that and to get a scholarship,” Maxwell said. “You really can’t go wrong with that.”