WorkWell launched our Senior Internship program this year. What’s exciting about this program is that each senior gets the opportunity to shadow or work within their occupational focuses of choice. Our objective was to get each participant into a unique internship experience that aligns with the career trajectory.
The High School Internship program was added to the WorkWell program four years ago. This is a program that specifically hires youth ages 16-18 and seeks to give them occupational experience. This is different from our youth experience program which started seven years ago, hires youth ages 14-15, and focuses on work training and project completion. The High School Internship program started in 2020 with 12 interns. Our numbers have increased every year, with a total of 28 interns hired this summer. 13 of our seniors that have been involved in our WorkWell program for 3-4 years. We wanted to launch a subsection of the WorkWell High School Intern Program for the seniors in order to offer an individualized track based upon on their interests.
As WorkWell Director, I wanted youth to have access to as many experiences within their career interests as possible. For example, one of our participants is interested in youth programming, a sports career, chiropractics, and accounting work. To accommodate his various interests, he is working for a sports business two days a week, shadowing a CPA(Certified Public Accountant) one day a week, working as a Camp Skillz facilitator one day a week, and shadowing a chiropractor one day a week. It’s an incredibly full schedule, but he is loving the exposure to so many different fields and finds it incredibly helpful towards thinking about his future career.
To meet our objectives, Ryan McAllister, High School Internship Manager, meets with the interns every few weeks to hear their feedback and adjust their schedules based upon their experiences and hopes after getting some experience in different fields. We are currently offering 18 unique job opportunities including: barista, media design, family medicine, accounting, cross-cultural counseling, sports field maintenance, and cartoonist!
So much of life is spent at work and we want to give these youth the best opportunities to learn who they are and how they might best contribute their unique skills to society. Our hope is that they would apply the ethics and values that they have learned as a part of our program into whatever field of work they chose to pursue. We are giving youth the opportunity to search out who God has made them to be by exploring the gifts and interests they have. Getting such experience continues to build their capacity as members of society and will help them gain a greater sense of direction for their future.
The businesses that youth are interning for have had an overwhelmingly positive feedback about their experience with these interns. Camp Director about the Camp Counselor Interns, "We want them working with us all the time. We love them so much." G.O.D. Int’l Grounds Manager, "He does well listening to instruction and does what's asked of him to complete a job." Nyumbarista Manager, "She is enthusiastic, takes initiative to learn new things, and helps out when she can. She also has a good attitude with customers."
In a recent survey given, youth continually rate this program as a 10 out 10 experience. One youth said, “Thank you for the opportunity you have brought to me this summer. Is there a way I can come back and volunteer with you in the future? I just want to give back to y’all for everything y’all have done for me.” Another youth said, “I’d rate this program a 10/10. I know that you guys care about us, are being flexible with us, and making this experience one that is really beneficial for us. I love it.” Another said, “My favorite part of this job is getting to work with people I love and helping to serve my community.”
We are so grateful for the positive responses from both our youth interns and the businesses and organizations within which they are working. We know that exposing youth to these kinds of opportunities will inspire their futures as productive members of society. We look forward to witnessing these young people take these experiences into their future careers and service to the community!