As the Stockton Atlantic City Summer Experience: Live-Work-Learn program enters its fourth year, not only are students getting to live for free, work in local industry and learn about career readiness — they also are getting full-time jobs after graduation.
“Having the opportunity to gain an internship and then have it evolve into a full-time job, especially with how things are right now for most people postgraduation, I feel very fortunate,” said Emma Martin, a 2025 political science graduate. She’s now the office and operations manager for the Chelsea Economic Development Corp. in Atlantic City after working with the group last summer.
The Summer Experience — dubbed “Live-Work-Learn” — has offered hundreds of Stockton University students paid jobs with Atlantic City businesses, campus housing covered by the employers, and career readiness-training modules focused on teamwork, leadership, critical thinking, and character development.
“I don’t think I would have had anywhere near the same job experience that I have now, and I don’t think I would have had as high of a career trajectory as I do now without this program,” said Michael Mora, a 2025 business administration graduate who works as an assistant manager at Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa.
Up to 600 students applied for this summer’s program with 200 working for 12 employers in Atlantic City and Galloway Township, said Brian K. Jackson, Stockton’s vice president for Community Engagement.
“One of the original goals of the Live-Work-Learn program was to serve as an experience that would help keep talented students in the area after graduation and to expose them to career opportunities they may not have expected or knew existed,” Jackson said.
Students in the Transfer Pathways program between Stockton and participating New Jersey community colleges can apply to the program if they’ve received their associates degree before enrolling in classes for the fall semester. Jessica Gross is a transfer from Atlantic Cape Community College and is using Live-Work-Learn to get acclimated to campus life. Before enrolling as a criminal justice major in the fall, she’s working as a security guard at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino.
“We would like to get accounting, finance, utility and law firms on board. And with such a strong interest from our students in health care fields, we would like to offer additional opportunities similar to AtlantiCare, one of our employers in the program,” Jackson said. “Live-Work-Learn serves as a perfect training ground for our students to develop their professional skills and for the employers to shape our students into future, prepared employees.”
