I am working with a partner interested in creating a summer internship program for juniors and seniors in high school.
We are looking for any program models or protocols you would be willing to share to help design a new internship program that addresses some Business and Industry concerns including:
How to welcome minors (ages 16+) into professional work settings and navigate HR and safety concerns
Providing transportation (stipends or Ubers or public transit passes)
Creating meaningful STEM career experiences that can also be credit-earning
Linking summer internships with Learn and Earn programs or Early College HS articulation agreements.
In seeing your message, I immediately thought about Cristo Rey High School, here in San Diego,CA. This high school provides an affordable, college-preparatory education to students from economically disadvantaged families and has an innovative corporate Work Study Program where their students gain transferable schools by working in some of San Diego’s top companies.
Many of the concern/needs you listed are topics that the school staff has to plan for including introducing students in high school to work expectations, figure out transportation since most of the work study positions are outside the immediate school community, etc.
Here is their website: https://cristoreysandiego.org/ As soon as I figure out the best point person, I will shoot you an email as well.
All the best,
Yanet Lopez
Community Engagement Manager, Fleet Science Center
Saturday Academy in Portland, Oregon, https://www.saturdayacademy.org/ase, has such a program. I recommend contacting them for more advice. They are partnered with large organizations to host high school interns including Intel Corporation and Oregon Health and Science University.
