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Gap Year internships and high school internships


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Hi all,

 

I read a recent article about the growing popularity of 'gap year' internships among high school grads.  I was wondering if anyone here has considered this or done something like it with their kids?  Here is the article discussing it: http://www.theintell.com/life-style/guides/education/gap-years-gain-popularity-as-students-seek-purpose-passion/article_717c4c6b-d4b7-50e2-92d0-c5baf4eaf423.html

 

Secondly, and also very interesting to me is the idea of internships 'during' high school.  I work for a large tech company and have had the opportunity to meet several high school interns that we brought in at different locations here in the states.  It seems like a great opportunity to provide these students with a glimpse into STEM careers and opportunities which they are interested in pursuing.  Here are several such companies:  http://www.hercampus.com/high-school/7-great-companies-high-school-internships

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My oldest took 2 years between high school graduation and beginning college. She didn't do internships but she did do missionary work. Also, she was offered all the same scholarships when she entered Purdue Univ that she had been offered before high school graduation. We let them know that she was taking 2 years and they said that she could still get those scholarships, and she did. She graduated 4 yrs later with 2 bachelor's degrees, did a 2yr internship at Purdue Christian Campus House, and was offered a full time position that she began this last Monday.

 

Our son who graduated late May from high school is taking a gap year to work and do a long missions in Africa. He will enter Boyce College in the fall of 2017 with the scholarships they have already offered him. We let them know he was taking a gap year and they said that they counsel many potential students to do this if they want a break or aren't sure what they want to do. If you let them know about taking a year then they usually are able to offer you the scholarships that you would've gotten if you had come in right after high school graduation. My son's missions in Africa is like an internship because he will be going to college to become a youth minister.

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I have a hard time with the term "internship" in relation to high school students. It seems like so many (note I said many, not all!) so-called intenships are what we would have called a career-related or shadowing-type job, such as cleaning up in a lab or caring for animals at a vet office. My sisters and I had similar summer jobs which I have now seen described on CC by parents as "internships".

 

I think a student doing an internship should be treated like an equal on the job, not doing only grunt work or being the go-fer, contributing something meaningful to the project or the company or organization, as well as learning whether or not this could be a good potential career.

 

Now, gap years can be wonderful for some students as long as there is a solid plan before the gap year begins. Work? Travel? Volunteering? A combination? Dd may take a gap year for language aquisition, but only if she is awarded one of the very competitive fully-funded scholarships; otherwise she'll head directly to college.

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I have a hard time with the term "internship" in relation to high school students. It seems like so many (note I said many, not all!) so-called intenships are what we would have called a career-related or shadowing-type job, such as cleaning up in a lab or caring for animals at a vet office. My sisters and I had similar summer jobs which I have now seen described on CC by parents as "internships".

 

I think a student doing an internship should be treated like an equal on the job, not doing only grunt work or being the go-fer, contributing something meaningful to the project or the company or organization, as well as learning whether or not this could be a good potential career.

 

Now, gap years can be wonderful for some students as long as there is a solid plan before the gap year begins. Work? Travel? Volunteering? A combination? Dd may take a gap year for language aquisition, but only if she is awarded one of the very competitive fully-funded scholarships; otherwise she'll head directly to college.

 

 

So here we have opportunities for job shadows and high school internships.  DS (17) has done two shadows and he'll have a 90 hour internship this summer that is *only* for juniors and seniors.  One was an engineering shadow where they had the ability to meet & greet with a few different types of engineers to get a feel for what each does at a fairly large aero-tech company.  Another was for Civil Engineering.  He was fairly sure he wanted to go into an engineering field, but wasn't entirely certain of Civil Engineering.  This helped him to be more certain.

 

The difference between the two here is the ability to actually get hands on.  The job shadows only last a day or two.  The internships are 60-90 hours and the companies let the students get a much bigger window into their world.  They are completely unpaid and I absolutely agree with them not being paid.

 

If we were talking about an almost college graduate, then that student would truly have skills, knowledge, and ability to offer the company and should be compensated accordingly.  However, high school students have no directly related knowledge (classes / learned skills & knowledge) to offer.  They are really the ones on the recieving end.  The fact that these companies are willing to invest time and energy into offering high school internships is such a gift!  They allow students an in depth peek into their world so kids can get a real feel for the job they are intending on majoring in in college.  We're pretty grateful.  Here there was a process - you had to send in an application that had to have references as well as verification for grades.  We go through a homeschool program so we had that as well as college classes grades so I don't know how a homeschooler without that verification would handle that.  After that, you are cleared for an interview process and then notified if you got your internship.  For Civil Engineering there were a few cooperating businesses in our metro area.  I do not know how many internships each of those businesses offer.

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Those high school internships look great! Nice variety of areas covered. I am encouraging my dc to get all sorts of practical experience in fields of interest at the high school level and beyond into university; examples would be co-op/internship, volunteering, apprenticeship, self-employment, paid position, research, study (language, cultural, scientific, music) exchange/immersion. I think there are so many benefits to be gained. Some opportunities may require a year, such as language immersion where the student studies for a school year, others may take a term or a summer. There are even be some week-long opportunities that might really provide good insight into a field of interest.

 

Personally, I did a "gap year" of study after completing my undergraduate degree where I studied abroad for a year with a bursary. It was an amazing experience, and led to a full-time job in that country. 

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Those high school internships look great! Nice variety of areas covered. I am encouraging my dc to get all sorts of practical experience in fields of interest at the high school level and beyond into university; examples would be co-op/internship, volunteering, apprenticeship, self-employment, paid position, research, study (language, cultural, scientific, music) exchange/immersion. I think there are so many benefits to be gained. Some opportunities may require a year, such as language immersion where the student studies for a school year, others may take a term or a summer. There are even be some week-long opportunities that might really provide good insight into a field of interest.

 

Personally, I did a "gap year" of study after completing my undergraduate degree where I studied abroad for a year with a bursary. It was an amazing experience, and led to a full-time job in that country. 

 

I am really liking the idea of encouraging these various options.  I think it's so important to gain a multitude of life experiences while young beyond simply studying about careers, peoples and places.  

 

I appreciate the interesting stories and experiences you and other's have shared.  Its not so much about the terms used but the actual experiences whether it be labeled a job, internship, practicum, clinicals, apprenticeship, etc....

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I have a hard time with the term "internship" in relation to high school students. It seems like so many (note I said many, not all!) so-called intenships are what we would have called a career-related or shadowing-type job, such as cleaning up in a lab or caring for animals at a vet office. My sisters and I had similar summer jobs which I have now seen described on CC by parents as "internships".

 

I think a student doing an internship should be treated like an equal on the job, not doing only grunt work or being the go-fer, contributing something meaningful to the project or the company or organization, as well as learning whether or not this could be a good potential career.

 

I think internships can vary quite a bit in terms actual work experiences.  In our company, for example, we allow the interns to do real work which many times can translate into job offers if we see a fit and like the quality of their work.  While I entitled the thread "internships," I think there are other valuable work and volunteer related experiences with different labels/titles.   The label is actually the least important aspect.  Rather, its about the experiences the student gains that really matters.  Also, I think there is a place for a shadow role. For example, before applying for certain medical school programs, x number of volunteer hours are actually required in that area.  Physical therapy programs require this among many others.

 

So here we have opportunities for job shadows and high school internships...

 

The difference between the two here is the ability to actually get hands on.  The job shadows only last a day or two.  The internships are 60-90 hours and the companies let the students get a much bigger window into their world.  They are completely unpaid and I absolutely agree with them not being paid.

 

If we were talking about an almost college graduate, then that student would truly have skills, knowledge, and ability to offer the company and should be compensated accordingly.  However, high school students have no directly related knowledge (classes / learned skills & knowledge) to offer.  They are really the ones on the recieving end.  The fact that these companies are willing to invest time and energy into offering high school internships is such a gift!

 

Yes, it is a gift.  Its basically the companies, federal agencies, hospitals and other organizations investing in today's youth as a way to give back and foster learning within their various domains.  These organizations realize that the students may have little to no practical skills.  So they look for other things like potential, passion and desire to learn and grow.  

 

Depending on the level of prior experience or lack thereof, I completely agree with allowing our kids to work at something they are interested in for free.  In fact, when I was young and in high school, I did exactly that.  I was studying drafting and architecture and was very passionate about it at the time.  So, I put my projects together into a portfolio and went looking for an internship or job of sorts.  I basically offered to work for free to simply gain real world experience.   So, the local architect in our area said sure, why not?  After not too long in doing work for him, he decided he wanted to pay me.  But I was just as happy to work for free having the opportunity to work on real architectural plans for the custom homes he was designing.

 

Here is an interesting Ted Talk given at Carnegie Mellon discussing this notion of working for free as a young person and following one's passion:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5qUR3tpEdA

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I am really liking the idea of encouraging these various options.  I think it's so important to gain a multitude of life experiences while young beyond simply studying about careers, peoples and places.  

 

I appreciate the interesting stories and experiences you and other's have shared.  Its not so much about the terms used but the actual experiences whether it be labeled a job, internship, practicum, clinicals, apprenticeship, etc....

 

It's good to be on the look-out for these kinds of opportunities, as they are all around and your oldest is getting to the age where he can start to take advantage of them. 

 

My dd and oldest ds just took a business entrepreneur program this winter, and out of this my dd found out about, applied to and was accepted to a summer business program funded by the provincial government. She'll get start-up money and on-going training and mentor guidance throughout the summer.

 

She also is doing a coop through our local school board where she's getting hands-on experience with animals. It's great to have this opportunity as the school board provides the pre-coop training (resume writing, interview practice, work-place safety), gets the coop placement, has insurance coverage, and even paid for dd's steel-toe work boots. If she does decide to pursue veterinary studies, there is a requirement to have a certain number of hours experience working with animals. 

 

Ds just applied to a summer theatre group youth apprenticeship program where he might get the opportunity to work all summer in one of several theatre areas; director, stage manager, actor, technical (sound/lights), marketing/admin, or front of house manager. He can build up his resume to eventually get a paid position with house management, for example. 

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It's good to be on the look-out for these kinds of opportunities, as they are all around and your oldest is getting to the age where he can start to take advantage of them. 

 

My dd and oldest ds just took a business entrepreneur program this winter, and out of this my dd found out about, applied to and was accepted to a summer business program funded by the provincial government. She'll get start-up money and on-going training and mentor guidance throughout the summer.

 

She also is doing a coop through our local school board where she's getting hands-on experience with animals. It's great to have this opportunity as the school board provides the pre-coop training (resume writing, interview practice, work-place safety), gets the coop placement, has insurance coverage, and even paid for dd's steel-toe work boots. If she does decide to pursue veterinary studies, there is a requirement to have a certain number of hours experience working with animals. 

 

Ds just applied to a summer theatre group youth apprenticeship program where he might get the opportunity to work all summer in one of several theatre areas; director, stage manager, actor, technical (sound/lights), marketing/admin, or front of house manager. He can build up his resume to eventually get a paid position with house management, for example. 

 

Wow, it sounds like your kids are really involved with various hands-on experiences.  The coop program your dd is participating sounds especially interesting and valuable.  It sounds very well organized.  I am wondering if this is in the States or possibly another European country?  It seems like some other countries emphasize these sorts of hands-on training opportunities as a part of the education process. 

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Wow, it sounds like your kids are really involved with various hands-on experiences.  The coop program your dd is participating sounds especially interesting and valuable.  It sounds very well organized.  I am wondering if this is in the States or possibly another European country?  It seems like some other countries emphasize these sorts of hands-on training opportunities as a part of the education process. 

 

We're in Canada. There are a lot of hands-on experiences out there, though sometimes it's a matter of finding them. It's a super bonus if you can find an opportunity that has financial support along with it, too! Luckily, through my local homeschool community I've become aware of these and many other opportunities. There are more opportunities for 16 year olds and older, so for a few things my dc have to wait a year or two. The other factor is finding the time to do these things. For my dd, doing a coop meant she had less time for academics, but because the coop was only part of one semester it wasn't too bad. 

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  • 1 year later...

Hello there! Gap year internship is really great for the students, which gives them lots of different opportunities to learn something new. My niece who is in the last year of high school is planning to take a gap year after high school graduation. Few days back, their school was having a social correspondence with the students of Benin where they exchanged cultural ideas, different lifestyles, make new friends, etc. which were organized by the mission humanitaire volunteers of ONG SHAMMESH. She told me that the experience was quite amazing and now she is planning to go on the gap year internship program of mission humanitaire to learn new things.

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I think a student doing an internship should be treated like an equal on the job, not doing only grunt work or being the go-fer, contributing something meaningful to the project or the company or organization, as well as learning whether or not this could be a good potential career.

 

 

I think that interns should have the opportunity to do real work, but I would not expect them to be treated like equals. Even new employees are not treated as equals to those with vast experience, kwim? 

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Its funny this thread popped up again because we've found some local STEM internship opportunities through the Naval Post Graduate School which is very close to us. They have both paid and non-paid opportunities. Our son found out about it through a friend who is now majoring in engineering at Cal Poly SLO. He went through the same program which actually inspired him to pursue a career in engineering. He did both volunteer and paid work and highly recommends both options. 

 

Although nice to get paid and make a small stipend, I think that is really not the primary benefit for high school students. The real benefit is the opportunity to learn about life outside the classroom in an area of professional interest. That's normally very hard to do with little to no experience. I also like the idea of humanitarian work which provides a whole different view of the world including all of the needs within it.

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