LHSI Intern: Latino Youth and Family Health Programs

Program Summary:    

This internship is offered as a part of the Life-Health Sciences Internship Program (LHSI). This program connects 125 IU Indianapolis undergraduates per year with internships on campus with faculty and staff in a variety of health and science related campus areas/programs. All LHSI internships start in August 2025 and end in May 2026 and are paid $13/hour for up to 10 hours per week. Work-study is accepted but not required.  

Supervisor: Silvia Bigatti 

Department/Office: Public Health; Community and Global Health 

Overview of the internship site: Learn to do community-based participatory research with a team of Latina faculty and community partners by serving as a mentor/research assistant in an expanded version of a summer program for Latino youth. This is a program focused on wellbeing in the Latino community.  Teens and parents will be recruited to participate in separate interventions in the summer.  The youth intervention is established but will be expanded this year.  The parent intervention is being developed by a multidisciplinary team of researchers (public health, social work, education, art, music, etc.). In summer 2025 we will run two 2-week summer programs from June through July, with monthly booster sessions every month until May 2026.   Ultimate goal of the program is to increase resilience and bicultural identity on these youth.  You do not need to be Latino/a/x to participate, nor do you need to speak Spanish. 

Website for more information: https://ylysprogram.wixsite.com/ylys 

Essential Duties and Responsibilities: LHSI interns will serve in a variety of capacities including mentors for the youth, planners and organizers of activities, data collectors, facilitators of group sessions and more.  In the past this program has been as impactful for mentors as it has for the youth that participate.  It is fun and intensive in the summer, and much less work in the academic year. It is imperative that you not have summer plans during the weeks of June 16 through 27 and July 7 through 18.  Preferably no plans from June 1 to July 31. Summer work will be funded separately and discussed in the interview. 

See mentors in the past (in orange t-shirts) here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aOQgCxDg-w 

Work Environment and Dress Code: The work is performed primarily in an office setting with dress code: Jeans and supplied t-shirts, otherwise informal 

Project-specific qualifications: Students will complete a background check for working with children as required by IU.  We want students who are energetic, social, responsible, and all else that would make good role  models for their role as mentors.  For their other research assistant work, we want students who are detail oriented and curious.  You will be trained in cultural issues but if you are not Latino, we want students who are interested in learning about Latino culture and respectful of cultural differences. 

Hours per week: 10; Summer work hours noted above. 

By the end of the LHSI program, you will: 

Carefully consider, explore, and articulate your career goals, including an analysis of how you arrived at that path and what steps you need to take next. (Community Contributor, Communicator) 

Understand your role and strengths on a professional team and analyze who you would like to become as a professional. (Communicator) 

Gain and strengthen skills relevant to next steps after graduation, such as communication, collaboration, teamwork, analysis/synthesis/evaluation, independence, confronting/challenging failure, problem-solving and perseverance, and constructive criticism. (Problem Solver, Communicator) 

Convey ideas and knowledge effectively through an ePortfolio and presentation of your internship work. (Problem Solver, Communicator) 

Set and meet your own additional learning goals identified with your supervisor. 

LHSI Qualifications    

must be graduating May 2027 or after (usually a current freshman or sophomore in Spring 2025)   

Current full time IU Indianapolis undergraduate in 2025-26  

minimum overall GPA of 2.0   

All majors welcome 

To apply: 

LHSI accepts 125 interns per year. All available sites are listed in Handshake and will start with the position title “LHSI Intern.” Complete the application for LHSI at go.iu.edu/lhsi and list 3-4 internship sites on that application. You will meet with at least 2 of these if selected for interviews.