Floret Muñoz

By Floret Muñoz

Both businesses and colleges agree that high school graduates lack hard and soft skills. High school students want to learn what is expected of them outside the classroom. Internship experiences at the high school level could help them succeed, reach their full potential, and prepare them for college.

Nashville Public Schools’ career academies, for example, “allow students to experience potential career interests through authentic learning and work-based experiences such as industry-specific field trips, job shadowing, and internships”[1]. This successful model, in operation since 2010, proves that NPS is opening doors for students that can benefit their future.

During my interview with Sabrina Antoine, the admissions and outreach specialist for the Year Up organization, she gave some pointers on how to maintain the required soft skills for the workplace. “Communication is key—both verbal and nonverbal. Speaking and showing a message by presenting yourself: that’s one. Number two is your skills set—willingness to take initiative. Initiative is key to success. If you see a problem, even though it is not what was written in your job description, if you are willing to fix the problem people will notice and identify you as a leader. “[2]

How can we add internships into Boston Public high schools? The first step to integrating internships is making partnerships with organizations and businesses. After all, they are mainly the ones that students will be working for. Ideally these work internships would occur after the regular school day, but as part of a course students could sign up to take. This way, any objection to students losing class time won’t come up since the internships happen after school. This could be an opportunity available to academically strong juniors and seniors. Rather than taking the time or focus away from the academics in high school, an internship program would be a benefit to the school and students who have earned the right to participate in it.

Schools have to consider what type of partnership would be best for the school. According to Angela Sisi and Kevin Muck in “Community Partnerships: How to Develop, Maintain, and Sustain Them,” there are a total of three important partnerships to have: private sectors, higher education, and governmental institutions. This ensures that there is a minimal chance of rejection and more success with the partnership. One example is Wheeling High School in Illinois.[3] Sisi and Muck identify the benefit of a private-sector partnership with schools and students because they receive scholarships, internships, financial support, and curriculum input. This is good for the students and actually integrates internships into the curriculum, along with material/ equipment donations. Higher education partnerships provide opportunities for students to receive dual-credit courses from colleges; they also provide professional development for the teachers and students. Wheeling High had that fortunate experience with Northern Illinois University, where junior and senior students in the nursing program could get a certification.

Lastly, governmental partnerships provide internships for students; they also provide grants and other kinds of financial support, and even publicity for the school that’s obviously beneficial. They also have “local official events”[4] then invite the governmental institutions where they have partnerships. They were even able to get U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, to speak when their Nano lab had a grand opening. “As schools and districts continue to explore the ways in which they need to prepare students for further education and careers in the twenty-first century and help them develop pathways, partnerships will be an integral part of that preparation. These partnerships could lead to internships, career shadowing, field trips, curricular support and in many cases, to job placement beyond high school.”[5]

Internships, if done in the right way, can open many opportunities for students if they are integrated into the curriculum. We’ll see a growth in professionalism and responsibility among students, and benefits to all contributors [partners] as well as receivers. Students will arrive on time to school and work. They will be responsible for their obligations, like a research paper or talking to customers in a respectful manner. Students will be able to develop a feel for what they really want to focus on and do as a career.

  1. Mosley, Chaney W. “College and Career Ready: In Nashville’s Career Academies, Students Gain Readiness for Both Worlds through Authentic Experiences.” School Administrator, April 2015, 26. ↑
  2. Sabrina Antoine, in discussion with by Floret Munoz, Year Up Boston, January 20th, 2016 ↑
  3. Angela Sisi and Kevin Muck, “Community Partnerships: How to Develop, Maintain, and Sustain Them,” Technology and Learning 35, no. 11 (June 2015). ↑
  4. Ibid. ↑
  5. Ibid. ↑