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Through its Career and Technical Education (CTE) program, St. John’s County School District in St. Augustine, Florida, works with local employers to offer internships to high school students in 18 fields, including architectural design, cybersecurity, medical research, and robotics.
CTE’s Career Academies—essentially “schools within a school”—allow St. John’s County School District high school students to enroll in a specific set of courses, projects, and guidance that align with a designated career area. Internships are open to high school juniors who are enrolled in a related Career Academy, and applicants must complete career skills training, submit their resume, and interview with the business partner.
In a typical year, the school district places 170 students in internships across northeast Florida with employers ranging from financial institutions and engineering firms to health systems and aerospace companies.
Because all students who participate are part of a CTE pathway and are rising seniors, they will have a three-year foundation of a pathway, which will make the internship more meaningful, explains Ashley Wimpelberg, work-based learning coordinator, career and technical education for the school district.
“Most of our students will have earned one or more industry certifications that could factor into if the internship is paid or not,” Wimpelberg notes.
“Most of our engineering students are certified in AutoCAD and Revit. Our healthcare students will have an EKG certification by the end of 11th grade. Certifications can lead to immediate employment out of high school, and some of our students will land a job from this internship experience.”
Haskell, a global architecture, engineering, and construction firm headquartered in Jacksonville, began providing summer internships to high school students in 2018. It typically hosts between 14 and 16 interns each summer. Interns spend 20 hours a week over a six-week span with Haskell.
“[Interns] are assigned a sponsor who is responsible for showing them what they do each day, which includes shadowing opportunities, meeting invitations, coordination with other professionals, and a ‘real-world’ work assignment from time to time,” explains Jacob Thurlow, director at Haskell.
In addition, high school interns have program work, which includes:
- Weekly assignments, such as “meet a Haskell team member” or “identify a piece of art you like”;
- Access to Haskell University’s self-guided training program;
- Weekly lunch presentations from professionals; and
- Weekly intern presentation requirements.
“Our high school interns also participate in a group assignment to create a solution to a service project request at a nearby school,” Thurlow adds.
“We then invite the interns back in September to put their ideas into practice and actually complete the work that they designed, estimated, and scheduled while with us in the summer. This is the assignment that our interns enjoy the most.”
Thurlow says that during their summer internships, the high school students learn about:
- Different careers in the design, engineering, and construction industry;
- What it is like to work in an office environment; and
- The importance of communication, coordination, and time management.
“They also improve their presentation skills and learn how to interact with adults in a professional environment,” he explains.
“They learn some technical skills, which could include AutoCAD or Revit training. In addition, these students begin to build their network of industry professionals and get to meet and build connections with peers from around the area.”
Thurlow’s advice to other organizations considering launching an internship program for high school students is to:
- Start with a small group to iron out processes and identify best practices;
- Consider creating content that can be provided to the interns to flesh out the time they spend with sponsors; and
- Be strategic by thinking through the entire summer and planning events throughout.
So far, Haskell has had 14 past high school interns return as college interns and two full-time hires from its internship program. It has 54 past high school interns approaching college graduation with the expectation that some will join the firm as full-time team members, Thurlow adds.
“We are building a pipeline of future talent and talk often about a path from high school intern to college intern to full time team member. We are engaging our professionals to spend time talking about what they do, showing the work they create, and building a sense of pride and camaraderie,” he notes.
“It has been a great experience. The interns always bring an energy and joy with them and help make the summer more enjoyable. Every team member reports being sad when the interns leave as they miss their enthusiasm and curiosity.”
