How The Columbus Promise is changing the game for students and the future of our city

For Eder Joel Pacheco Hernandez and other Columbus Promise scholars, their internships aren’t just about gaining critical professional experience at major Columbus companies–they’re also about getting a chance to take in their first Buckeyes football game, to forge meaningful relationships, and even to learn how to drive.

Hernandez is one of nearly 20 Columbus State Community College (CSCC) students who have secured an internship at IGS Energy through the Columbus Promise Earn-and-Learn program. Described as “a promise to our city’s students,” the Columbus Promise allows Columbus City Schools (CCS) graduates to attend CSCC tuition-free with an additional $500/semester stipend and exclusive advising support. Made possible by the City of Columbus, CCS, I Know I Can and CSCC, it has helped nearly 2,500 students since 2021. In addition to completing their collegiate academic program, Columbus Promise scholars can apply to participate in the Earn-and-Learn paid internship program.

Calling these opportunities just internships, however, is likely selling them short. IGS–which is one of multiple Columbus companies participating in the program, accepts students for a 10-month program that offers them critical work experience, but also teaches them invaluable lessons about the human side of the corporate world.

“It’s hard for me to not get emotional when I talk about the program,” said IGS Energy talent relationships partner Lindsay LaSala. “I get to spend so much time with our interns every week, and they become a part of our family here. It’s impossible not to get invested in them. Each student is so talented and unique. They are making a lasting impact on our company.”

According to LaSala, while interns learn important professional tools each day, they also form long-lasting personal relationships. She recalled an instance where the company’s finance leader gifted tickets to an intern to attend their first Buckeyes football game, and even one where her husband volunteered his time on weekends to help an intern learn how to drive, and eventually acquire his driver’s license.

Hernandez can confirm the program’s holistic, person-first approach to mentorship.

“We have our mentor, and they assign us tasks and help us learn, but more than that we’re creating real relationships,” Hernandez said. “In fact, one of my mentors is trying to learn Spanish, so we meet up and I help him with that.” 

But this doesn’t mean Hernandez—who  is in the first year of his IGS internship—is overlooking the vocational benefits of the program either.

“I’m a business major, but didn’t know if I wanted to go into finance or marketing. I was able to work in different departments at IGS, and I realized I really like working with data and numbers,” he said.

Hernandez and IGS are just a small portion of the still-growing Columbus Promise, however. In 2025, the program entered its second phase, and has received a pledge of over $2 million from local business leaders as it expands.

And while the impact of the program is clear on both the city’s up-and-coming talent and the companies that mentor them, according to Columbus City Council President Shannon Hardin, the program is a necessity to sustain our city’s projected growth, and we’re already reaping the rewards.

“We need these young people to have the credentials and the degrees so they can take the jobs of the future. [A recent study found that] the impact of credentialing or not credentialing would have on the growth of our city. It said that about 65 percent of our young people need to have some sort of level of credential, but at the current level of what we were doing (in 2019), we would not hit that goal until 2060,” Hardin said. “In 2021 we brought this idea on a napkin, and the community invested in it, and now we’re back with an amazing program with amazing results …It’s the coolest thing to see our future right in front of us.”

To apply for The Columbus Promise or learn how to become an Earn-and-Learn employer partner, visit www.cbuspromise.com.

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