CHS seniors and Wize Computing Academy interns Nolan Jiang, Tokhir Umarov and Hansini Routhu are shown working through different STEAM activities with students as part of their CISD summer internship, Story by CHS Senior and CISD Communications Intern Rhea Chowdhary.
As the school year winds down and rising high school juniors and seniors prepare for the year to come, decisions on college majors and career pathways creep up quickly. Internship programs have been increasingly popular in mitigating the stress brought by those important decisions, helping students to see if they are really interested in what they plan to pursue.
This year, CISD selected 48 student interns as a part of their summer internship program. This is the second year the program has been in place, with students applying by May 20 and selection results coming out within the last week of May. The two week program is designed to give students a look into their possible future, while clearing confusion on what a job in their desired pathway would look like.
“I think it’s difficult to decide what you want to major or minor in or get a certification in without ever actually working the job,” said CISD Special Projects Specialist Megan Mackin. “Internships help remove some of the guessing-game of what careers are really like.”
Over the course of two weeks, students are paired with an organization and internship mentor to facilitate the work they do. Students are expected to complete numerous projects and assignments to meet their organization’s needs.
“By hosting high school interns, we can offer them hands-on learning opportunities on exciting projects, allowing them to develop valuable practical skills beyond textbooks,” said Vishal Bhasin, co-founder of Wize Computing Academy. “They'll gain exposure to industry-standard tools and methodologies, giving them a head start in their studies.”
The CISD internship program provided a wide variety of professions students could apply for including engineering, IT, logistics, entrepreneurship, communications, accounting, law and business. They were then placed at an organization best suited to their desires and career goals within the field in which they were interested.
“During the selection process, we look for professionalism, originality and how the student will use this experience for their career objectives,” Mackin said. “We also take into account the interests of the student and the organization to find the best match.”
It's easy for students to sit at home and research a selection of industries they think are the right fit for them, but having the ability to problem solve and work through real assignments with other people in their chosen profession is both a learning experience and an essential opportunity internships provide.
“Over the past week and a half, I've gotten the chance to see how everyone works together and interacts with each other,” said CHS junior and Amazon/DAL2 logistics intern Snigdha Marneni. “Attending meetings gave me the chance to observe and grow my communication skills, but, more than observing, while working on some assignments, I got the chance to go out on my own and talk to some associates and managers, which was very helpful as well.”
In every internship provided, regardless of the profession, students are able to pick up well-rounded skills that can aid in the employability of the student in the future. Putting students in a work setting helps them understand professionalism and what it means to keep an organization operating.
“If they only walk away with one thing from this internship, I want it to be a clear understanding that it is the people that keep our business running,” said Amazon/DAL2 Site Leader Tyler Deakins. “As leaders, it is our responsibility to set the culture and mechanisms in place to foster the right environment to deliver on our vision of the safest and best workplace anyone on our team has ever experienced.”
As students finish their two-week internship, the information and experience they gained will never leave. Whether students love every aspect of their internship or simply learn this field might not be for them, they have time to decide what they want to do before their future takes off.
“I think knowledge is power and the more knowledge and experience a student has about a potential career, the better decision they will make about how to spend their time and resources in the next few years after high school pursuing that career,” Mackin said.
In addition to the 48 interns completing the two-week program, three additional students will be placed at internships later this summer.