Good news for Maryland college students. Multiple manufacturing companies are opening their doors this summer as part of an internship program campaign launched by a non-profit organization called Maryland Manufacturing Extension Partnership.

The campaign is geared towards students who can work with and learn from manufacturing companies. The program matches 10 to 15 students spending their summer with a manufacturing company in Maryland. Students studying engineering, marketing, business or science are welcome to join the manufacturing program. The MMEP has also opened its arms to college juniors, seniors and graduate students.

What's more good news is that these interns are paid to work with the company during the summer-long internship project. Sounds like a great deal, according to a report from FrederickNewsPost. Staffwriter Paige Lee Jones has noted that Kerry McManus, the woman who works at Maryland MEP, is leading the program. The partnership will also hold several events for interns throughout the summer, so it's not just all work.

While the venue and dates are being finalized, a tentative schedule is plotted on June 1 for the kick-off meeting, with several training sessions on August 3.

If you're keen to join, the officials at Maryland MEP are already interviewing candidates for the program.

McManus said she hopes to begin pairing chosen applicants with manufacturing companies as early as next week.

Once the interns are chosen, Maryland MEP will contact interested manufacturing companies to help match students with the best suited company. These companies will be responsible for scheduling the start and end dates of the internship, cite the hourly pay and indicate the summer projects involved.

The program "helps manufacturers find good entry level workers and our internship program's goal is to help them find qualified and hard working college graduates," McManus wrote in an email.

It also "gives students exposure to the manufacturing industry here and hopefully they consider a career in manufacturing upon graduation," she wrote.