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What internships are you considering for Summer 2018?


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Hello,

 

I was wondering what types of internships some of you may be looking into for this coming Summer? Or if your kids have done them before, what was your experience? Was it worth it and would you do it again if the opportunity presented itself?

 

Our son is 16 and has applied to his first internship. We sort of stumbled upon this through a friend. Its through the Science and Engineering Apprenticeship Program (SEAP) which is sponsored by the Navy. The application process was pretty formal. Apparently its very competitive with many more applicants than there are openings. So while hopeful, we will continue to explore other opportunities until we hear back. Our son interviewed with the researchers today who met with all the applicants (~70) that made the first cut. This will be held at the Naval Post Graduate School (NPS) which isn't far from us. They ask that the students live within driving distance of their various facilities. Though it seemed some were applying from outside the area after speaking with some of the parents.

 

We would prefer to find local opportunities since this will be our son's first real job. We've heard that some of the students who don't get a slot find volunteer opportunities to work on research or other projects at the university. If you are considering internships, would you also consider some outside your immediate area? I haven't really discovered any others locally yet. But I still have more research to do.

Edited by MarkT
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Well, nothing cool like that yet because Trinqueta is just a freshman, but I found a local place with a well organized volunteer program for high school students. I'm planning to volunteer with T and Geezle next summer because they require a parent on site if you're under 16 and I need to shadow G anyway so it works out well. They have a resale shop and food pantry.

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I wish we could edit our titles as well.

I have edited my threads’ titles many times. Click edit on the first post and you can edit the thread title as well as add or delete tags.

 

We are looking at summer camps. Older kid has added law and politics/government to his long list of interests.

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Unfortunately we had no local opportunities. At 16, one worked as a lifeguard and did scout activities; the other had music gigs.

 

Yes, I know it can be hard with limited local internships or related interest jobs.

 

As a bit of an aside, I actually created my own internship while in high school. At the time I was very interested in Architecture and had taken lots of drafting and architecture classes at my local high school. Our teacher even had us create a portfolio to market our work. So I decided to visit a local architect, show him my work and 'volunteer' my time for the opportunity of learning within that professional environment. It turned out to be a great learning experience. After some initial work the architect offered to pay me even though I was not asking for money. This whole notion of 'free work' to create opportunity does open potential doors which may not have existed formally before. There's a pretty cool Ted Talk on it as well here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5qUR3tpEdA

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Yes, that is a good strategy. It doesn't work here outside of small business, due to liability concerns. The companies and state here don't allow individuals to intern as high schoolers unless they are part of a high school class with an arrangement. So, the STEM kids generally do a club or take the class with the internship, then go into business for themselves.  

 

Age also affects things like the SMART scholarship. 

 

I didn't post to derail your thread though, just give possibilities for those who don't have any formal opportunities.  Work experience in any capacity is good; research experience can be done at home too. lots of possibilties.

 

Yes, age does play a factor obviously in some cases due to labor laws, etc... Though some will allow high school freshman ages 14+ to volunteer. I believe our Monterey aquarium has such a program.

 

I think it also depends on the major or area of interest. Here's another example. Let's say some kids took programming classes while in high school or were self-taught at home even. One could volunteer to create a website for a company or update their out of date website. Agreed that would be harder for larger corporations. However, that's not normally the target for this sort of thing.

 

Another may be if interested in the medical field, one could volunteer at the local hospital in a dept. of greatest interest such as physical therapy. Once a medical student these volunteer 'rotations' or clinicals are actually required. In fact, just to gain acceptance into certain medical programs one must have x number of volunteer hours under their belt first. Since I was initially a 'pre-med' major I did a lot of those kinds of related things as well. 

Edited by dereksurfs
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Yes, I know it can be hard with limited local internships or related interest jobs.

 

 

My high schoolers aren't aiming toward fields that have recognizably prestigious internship opportunities in the general sense, but lots of opportunities that will carry weight if they do stick to their current goals.

 

They'll both be able (legally and logistically) to commit more time to our volunteer fire department.  There are camps for teenage girls who want to explore firefighting, but it looks like they've already exceeded the basic stuff that's covered, and they'd rather be home, training and responding.  

The dd interested in being a paramedic is signing up for as many ride-alongs as the ambulance squad will give her.

 

In addition to the technical aspects, they'll be helping to develop and implement fundraising events.  I'm pushing them to work on recruiting campaigns for both overall volunteers and specifically junior volunteers as their "Big High School Project".  I want them to do a big project, and don't particularly care about the subject area, but this is probably the tastiest carrot I can dangle to move them along, lol.

 

There are other bits and pieces coming together to make up a fun, valuable, and busy summer that aren't directly related to their career goals.  (Or might redirect their career goals.)

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Mine don't do internships, but they have year-round volunteer jobs.  My 3 oldest work with a physical therapist at an equestrian physical therapy facility for special needs adults and kids.  They groom the horses, put on their tack, lead them in and out of the pasture and they also help with the physical therapy portion.  They do sidewalking with the rider and also lead the horses in the arena with a rider.

 

Dd16 has a second volunteer job.  She works at a dog rescue.  She cleans the cages and facility, walks/plays with the dogs, meets the rescue at adoption events and helps the dogs get adopted.  She's helped with fundraisers and she helped set up and run their 5K/fundraiser last year. 

 

So, kinda like an internship, but not just for the summer.  They do this year-round.  

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When my oldest turned 16, he was able to begin conducting research at a medical center about an hour away.  During the summer, he worked every weekday, and during the school year, he worked from 8 - 5 on Wednesdays.  My two youngest had/have too many athletic commitments during the summer to participate in anything else, so they didn't/won't do any internships in the summer as a high schooler.

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  • 4 weeks later...

There are camps for teenage girls who want to explore firefighting, but it looks like they've already exceeded the basic stuff that's covered, and they'd rather be home, training and responding.  

 

 

One thing they might want to consider is whether they will meet a lot of new people at the camps - not just fellow campers, but the staff and teachers. They might be able to learn a lot unofficially that is not part of the official camp, plus make some connections. 

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