Student intern follows passion at youth mentoring program

Tatum Banks’ summer internship at Campus Connections has been a dream come true.

Campus Connections is a service-learning program in Colorado State University’s Department of Human Development and Family Studies.  Undergraduate students take a class that involves serving as mentors for at-risk youth in the Fort Collins community.

Banks, a student in the department, has been helping enroll youth in the program for the upcoming fall semester when it starts up again.

“I have always been interested in humans and why they do the things that they do and I am passionate about helping people who are struggling to get to a place of ease and comfort,” she said.

Luckily, Banks has been able to pursue these passions through her internship with Campus Connections.

She has been working primarily on intakes, the initial meetings held with potential clients.

Campus Connections internship

“In my internship, I am talking one-on-one with potential youth participants of the Campus Connections mentoring program. I am scheduling intakes and enhancing my computer skills. As the summer progresses, I will be shadowing others conducting intakes and then eventually doing them on my own,” Banks said.

Campus Connections provides the undergraduate mentors with the chance to handle challenging, real-world situations and with the guidance of staff and therapists, the mentors are able to make a positive difference in their mentee’s life.

“There may be some heavy stuff that we deal with when working with participants of Campus Connections. My classes and professors have definitely prepared me for that, but interning at Campus Connections has really given me good experience when handed those situations,” said Banks.

The Department of Human Development and Family Studies is part of CSU’s College of Health and Human Sciences.