Featured photo: Students building garden boxes
(FLINT, Mich., Aug. 5, 2025) — What do you get when you mix eight high school students, two retired General Motors executives, and summertime? The result is the General Motors Student Corps (GMSC) at Southwestern Classical Academy.
The Flint Center for Educational Excellence (Flint Center) and the Flint Community Schools have partnered with General Motors for a summer program that affords eight scholars an opportunity to work as interns for seven weeks in the summer. The program was initiated at Southwestern in 2016 by Mohammad Aboutawila, Implementation & Partnership consultant for the Flint Center, and former Community School director at Southwestern. It is part of a larger initiative throughout 15 southeast Michigan school districts.
“Our role was a community school standard,” said Aboutawila, “incorporating integrated support, coordinated infrastructure, and expanded learning for this partnership to be intentional when supporting young leaders (Flint kids) that attend Southwestern.”
The GMSC is facilitated by two retired GM executives who serve as coordinators, Michael Weber and Rosalind Ward-Nelson. The pair have been working with students through GMSC for the past four years and say that they volunteered for their roles because they feel strongly about helping young people develop their skills.
“I like working with young people to help them identify their skills, abilities and talents to discover how they align with opportunities to help them pursue their goals,” said Ward-Nelson.
Weber added he appreciates “watching how the students grow during the seven contact weeks in this program, with all they are exposed to and the activities they engage in.”
Students who participate must be recommended by a teacher or counselor and then undergo a rigorous interview process. Once finalists are selected, they are reviewed by GM Human Resources through a process based on grades, behavior, ambition and work ethic.
In addition to earning income, the GMSC interns are introduced to workplace expectations, develop soft skills, and learn about networking, civic responsibility and how to identify and execute projects that enhance their high school campus and the surrounding community.
“Each student comes into the program with different backgrounds and correspondingly, a different set of skills. I love to watch how these students gain confidence in their skills as well as learn new skills they did not know they had, or needed some work to polish,” said Weber.
The special bonus for Ward-Nelson is “how respectful and sincere they (the students) are. They take their jobs seriously. These are not just good students, but good people,” she said.
The 2025 cohort of GMSC interns includes:
Saydah Al-Samet
Taeveoanna Cheeks
Dejuane Carroll
Jamar Felton
Anthony Kyles
Darion McNichols
Jordan Nichols
Precious Whitaker
As a retired Sales and Marketing professional, Ward-Nelson hopes that she instills in the students an understanding of the need to speak up for themselves and share their insight and knowledge.
“You may have a lot to share, but you deny the world your greatness when you don’t speak up,” she said.
“I’ll add that they need to speak up with confidence,” said Weber, former GM Global Body chief engineer. “This program helps to build confidence in these young people. When they speak up with confidence, they will be taken seriously, and their thoughts and ideas will carry a certain degree of importance.”
This summer the students worked on beautification projects at Southwestern, including building raised garden boxes, and performed three community service projects. They visited the University of Detroit Mercy, the Union Carpenters and Millwrights Skilled Training Center and toured the GM Flint Assembly plant. They also attended a financial literacy session at GM HQ, learned how to write a resume and cover letter, and went through mock interviews to hone their skills.
Upon completion of the program on Aug. 6, students will join students from 15 participating school districts to showcase their projects and experiences with a presentation to GM executives, followed by a luncheon and awards ceremony.
The Flint Center for Educational Excellence is building an educational ecosystem that works for all Flint kids by providing programs, research and advocacy that ensure Flint kids, their families, schools and communities thrive. They accomplish this through a cross-sector partnership to create a cradle-to-career support network connecting people, ideas and resources in tangible ways that strengthen our community through the power of collaboration. To learn more about the Flint Center, visit theflintcenter.org.
