Our high school offers many different ways to get involved in the community and find that perfect career, and one option is the Internship Elective. It gives juniors and seniors the opportunity to get out of the classroom and get hands-on experience.
The elective is a semester-long course that allows students to work with a company or local school for at least five hours a week during an excused absence. After finding a company to work with, students gain experience in a specific field while learning more about working in the real world.
“Internships provide a platform for students to apply classroom knowledge to real-world scenarios, fostering personal and professional growth while helping them make informed decisions about their future endeavors,” said high school college and career counselor Elizabeth Ziegler.
To get involved in the elective, students need to reach out to Ziegler or their school counselor for additional information and scheduling.
To participate in the elective students must meet an overall GPA of 73% or higher and a satisfactory attendance record. Students must also be in compliance with school board policies #218.4 which is Extracurricular, Co-Curricular, and Interscholastic Sports and School Privileges Policy and #227 which is Controlled Substances/Paraphernalia Policy. Lastly students need to have two different teacher references.
Senior Marea Bley interned with Now I Can, a pediatric facility that helps disabled children regain as much physical independence as possible from disabilities like cerebral palsy that affect children’s daily lives.
“The internship greatly impacted me because I was able to learn so much about the field that I plan to go into. Also, I was able to build meaningful connections with people in the community,” said Bley.
Not all internship opportunities are off campus. Senior Amber Lefever interned in MTMS with the eighth grade math classes. This opportunity showed Lefever that education is the right field for her, but gave her a different perspective on the grade level she wants to teach.
“I was so set on teaching high school math, but having this opportunity to interact with the middle schoolers has made me more open-minded in what level I would want to go into,” said Lefever.
“It’s really exciting to get a jump start on my future,” she said. “I see how the students grow and I get to be a part of that.”
