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November 26, 2002
A: FROM MENTOR SARA RAMSDELL
IN KY
We have had several high school students as interns who were
a part of the
"City as School" program in the Fayette County (Kentucky)
Public Schools.
This program took high school students who were at risk of
not graduating
because they were not doing well in normal classroom settings
and exposed
them to workplace situations where they needed skills they
were supposed to
be learning in school. In our case the students got math credit
for helping
in our concrete testing laboratory where they weighed and
measured samples
and performed other tasks where mathematics and statistics
were applied to
our work. One of the students also studied for and passed
his
certification examination as a concrete field testing technician.
We have
also had walk-ins (both women) who were curious to know what
we do and
spent about six weeks visiting and helping out with our business.
There may be similar programs in your area, or you may need
to reach out to
specific employers. My daughter is a veterinarian. She has
had several high
school students check out the profession by helping at her
clinic.
********************
November 26, 2002
A: FROM MENTOR SHARON STANDISH
IN PA
Several of the businesses I worked with through the years
would partner with
the local area high schools either through the teachers or
the guidance
counselors to actively pursue interns. I would ask your teachers
or
guidance counselors as a start. If that is not successful.
I would
recommend that you call directly to the local businesses that
you believe
would be a good fit for your skill set or that you are interested
in
pursuing a career in that field. Ask for the Human Resource
(HR) manager or
director or even an HR recruiter. Explain to them that you
are pursuing an
intern position and what you hope to gain by working as an
intern with that
company.
If the above fails, send a note home to the parents of the
school or use
your friends to ask their parents for help. Network with them
to determine
if they can help make contacts through their employers or
know someone who
would be willing to take on an intern.
We (busineses) started planning for interns in late January/Februrary/early
March time period for interns to start in May through September.
We scoped
out potential departments that would benefit from the extra
hands, which
department had budget, and which department would best fit
the needs of an
intern. We asked them to give us a job description and then
the interns
would be selected based on the interns resume, desire, experience
(if any)
and capabilities. We had formal/informal mid term review and
a final review
so that the interns would have a letter of recommendation
explaining their
effort and contribution during the internship. We also had
the interns give
us feedback on our programs so that we could make improvements.
We also
planned numerous activities for the interns to meet among
themselves to
discuss their internship and future plans. We had scheduled
a monthly
outing, weekly lunches, took them to the local baseball games,
tours of the
city, free tickets for local events, etc., and have fun together.
We asked
the staff to help support the events.
In this market down turn, several companies have opted not
to pursue
interns, however, some students have opted to work for nothing
in order to
get the experience listed on their resumes and college applications.
The
interns showed up everyday, Monday through Friday, for either
4, 6, or 8
hours.
I would recommend putting together a brief resume with after
school
activities, grades, include volunteer work, jobs that you
have had held in
the past, and what your plan on pursuing as a potential career.
Be persistent and keep a journal as to how you pursued a high
school
internship. Share this information with your school. This
will help them
to set up future programs and assistance for those that will
follow in your
foot steps.
Good luck.
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November 25, 2002
A: FROM MENTOR MARTY CHINTALA
IN RI
Norrine,
I think this is a great inquiry. I usually take on interns
partly based
on need and partly based on whether I have sufficient time
to devote to
them. If there isn't enough for a student to do, or we don't
have our
research direction well defined, then the student will get
less benefit.
Likewise, if my schedule is such that I am too busy to be
available for
my intern when she/he needs me (either for direction on what
they are
doing, to answer a question, to chat about what we are doing,
etc.) then
I know I shouldn't take one on because it isn't fair to the
student
because I am not able to provide the direction and learning
experience
that the student should get. As far as how we get our interns,
we have
a few mechanisms in place here (at the EPA in RI). We have
had students
come and ask to be volunteers. We have a couple of schools
that
participate in the school-to-work program where they shadow
a scientist
and work at the lab with someone for a period of time. We
also
participate in something called the ECO program (Environmental
Careers
Organization). I am not sure if students have to be in college
for that
or not. But the program is great for getting students for
our program,
and it might be worth making sure that they kow about it for
future
reference. I hope that is of some help!
November 25, 2002
A: FROM MENTOR GENAH BURDITT
IN CO
I work at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science and here
all internships are coordinated through one person in the
Education Branch, Andrea Hamilton (303) 370-8225. She collects
requests from and matches people to every department of the
museum for internships, paid and non, for all ages. I would
suggest that most public institutions like zoos, museums,
gardens, etc. would have similarly coordinated programs.
Additionally, ours and other institutions rely heavily on
volunteer support. Inquiring to the volunteer services department
would be the first step.
Thirdly, in Denver the mayor sponsors a program for teens
called "SafeCity", which pays teens a stipend to
work in various areas of public service, including the museum.
Your city may have a similar program.
And lastly, Girl Scouts are a great resource for girls of
all ages. They may have a program that helps place girls into
interships.(maybe that's you?)
I wish I had known about these programs when I was a teen!
:) Best of luck to the girls.
**********
November 25, 2002
A: FROM MENTOR JUDY LONG IN
CO
My employer doesn't have internships for high school students
currently in
my department but I do have the option of having students
visit for job
shadowing. The student usually stays for about 3 hours and
sits with me to
learn what my job as a Systems Analyst is all about. They
also experience
the work environment which is cubicles and quiet. I involve
the students in
my daily tasks by having them look things up in the documentation,
follow a
software flow chart to understand what the software is doing
and determine
which path I should follow in order to create a test to verify
the software
works as designed. I go to several schools in my area to give
a
presentation on women in engineering and the teacher coordinates
the job
shadowing with myself and the students. It's a good way for
the students to
figure out if they are interested in engineering.
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