DALLAS (SMU) - SMU basketball player Lavardicus Atkins is one of 24 student-athletes from around the nation to be selected for a prestigious Wall Street Summer Internship.

The program, sponsored by the Alumni Athlete Network, provides paid internships in many of the most prestigious corporations and professional service firms in the world of finance. The program strives to broaden opportunities available to students who have shown a commitment to intercollegiate athletics and academic excellence. This 10-week program is the initial piece of a broader platform of career and professional development opportunities targeted to current and alumni student-athletes.

Students accepted to the program are placed at one of the following prominent firms: Credit Suisse First Boston, Banc of America Securities, J.P. Morgan, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, Lehman Brothers and UBS. Atkins has selected Citigroup for his stint in New York.

Once a student enters the program he/she becomes a member of a national network of thousands of current & alumni student-athletes as well as a diverse set of corporations interested in providing employment opportunities throughout their professional life. After completing the program, an intern may receive a full-time position at a highly competitive salary.

To be eligible for the program, a student-athlete must display academic excellence (3.0+ GPA), leadership in their sport and in other activities, strong interpersonal skills, maturity, a commitment to community service and have completed one-year of varsity level intercollegiate athletics.