Internship & Career Center

A student internship is an unpaid, career-focused experience during which students become directly involved in the workplace. A question we often hear from students is “Why do I need to learn math, science, and history? I’ll never use it.” This experience provides an opportunity for a student to apply the skills obtained in school to real work situations and to learn additional skills. An internship will also help students to define career goals. Through working with an adult mentor at the worksite, students have the opportunity to develop a foundation of general workplace skills and to acquire information and skills in their chosen career cluster/pathway. A student internship also provides students with focused and structured learning, giving them experience with the responsibility for meeting timelines, making decisions, and working with others – all skills needed for success in the workplace.

At the end of the internship, students should be able to:

• Identify a career cluster of interest
• Determine whether a career is compatible with interests, values, skills, and aptitudes
• Prepare a resume
• Write a correct resume cover letter
• Develop interviewing skills
• Write correct, timely thank you letters
• Set priorities, plan use of time, adhere to a schedule
• Develop effective interpersonal skills with workers and supervisors
• Develop important work habits such as promptness, reliability and accuracy
• Understand the evaluation process in the workplace
• Explain the correct business attire and etiquette

In order to earn credit for internship, students must work a minimum number of hours, as follows:

• 54 hours of work based learning or more
• Create a resume, cover letter and thank you note
• Create an internship reflection assignment
• Take a .5 College and Career Readiness Course (APEX/classroom) or 16 hours of Career Readiness seminar

Upon completion of your fieldwork hours, you are to create a project unique to your learning style that addresses the following:

1) What are your overall impressions of the internship?

• What did you like about the internship
• What did you have a hard time with

2) What were the obstacles you had to overcome?

• How did you achieve success
• Did you overcome all obstacles
• What is one thing that you did that you were really proud of

3) Which career fields related to your internship would you consider working in?

• After the internship do you have a clearer mindset of what you would like to pursue
• How did the internship help you achieve your career goals

4) From your fieldwork experience, what are your skill strengths?

• Did you identify areas of opportunity for improvement
• Would you recommend other students to the internship program

5) What is one thing you would change or improve about the internship program?

• What was one thing that was really helpful about the internship program

Requirements of assignment (Choose one):

Write a Paper
Typed using 12pt font (Times New Roman)
Double-spaced Margins set at 1” 1 to 2 pages in length

Create an interview
Allow your co-worker, manager, family or friend to interview you
Your interview must answer all questions above
Your interview must be submitted on a zip drive or CD
Your interview must be 5 minutes or longer

Create a PowerPoint
Create a PowerPoint no less than five slides
Include at least three pictures of yourself in your field placement
Answer all questions above or take this survey.

***Create your own project with the approval of the Internship and Career Center***
Helpful reminder: Consider journaling your experience in some way THROUGHOUT to submit your entries as your reflection assignment. Composition notebooks are available upon request for this assignment!