District 211 seeking summer internship hosts for students

Do you own, manage, or work at a local business that could benefit from a high school intern for the summer?

District 211 would like to partner with businesses in the community to help prepare our students for their future careers. One way to collaborate is to offer a summer internship to our students.

A high school internship is a unique opportunity for a student to gain invaluable knowledge, experience, and confidence in future college and career decisions. Each internship is flexible and based on the mutually agreed upon conditions between the company and the student. It can range anywhere from two weeks to two months in length.

High school internships can be paid or unpaid - though, if they are unpaid, they're usually subject to labor guidelines. In the U.S., federal law mandates that unpaid interns must not benefit the company economically or be used to displace the work done by paid employees.

The primary purpose of a high school internship is to get experience in a job field. Internships focus on giving the intern the best training possible to help them in the future, by rotating the responsibilities, shadowing a professional, and integrating them into the workforce of the company.

District 211 appreciates the time and effort it takes to host an intern. The district has made the process as streamlined as possible. The host needs to have work for the intern to do, as well as skills to teach the intern aside from the basic employability skills.

The host needs to designate a supervisor or mentor, set aside a physical space, and give an orientation of the business to the student. It can provide leadership opportunities for your employees, while also giving the company a chance to evaluate prospective employees for the future and partner with the community.

Our high school students are mature and computer savvy and can provide valuable insights and a fresh perspective. The high school internship and career exploration program is a valuable hands-on learning experience that cannot be replicated in the classroom. We hope to be able to collaborate with businesses to positively impact our communities by developing creative solutions that will shape the future.

To be an internship host, contact Jan Brottman, career adviser at Fremd High School and career adviser coordinator for District 211, at jbrottman@d211.org or complete the google form: https://goo.gl/forms/UasgE2ysMv7W9lbu2.

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