A high school internship with a company or organization can be a life-changing experience for a teenager, an experience that can inspire passion in school, provide motivation to pursue college and create invaluable resume advantages. I know this first hand because I was fortunate enough to have a internship at a company all through high school, working as a computer programmer full-time for two months each summer. By the time I started college I already had eight months of full-time work experience built-up (along with the more typical part-time experience of managing a newspaper route when I was younger). That unique experience of a high school internship continued in college where I pursed a computer engineering degree. The University of Waterloo has a mandatory co-op program where each four-month semester of school is followed by a four-month work term. By the time I earned my degree, my high school internship combined with the college work terms meant I had nearly three years of relevant work experience walking into interviews – a distinct advantage that helped kick-start my career.
While providing internship opportunities to high school students makes perfect sense to me, I’ve discovered that the prospect of hiring and managing a high school intern can be intimidating for many companies. The purpose of this article is to provide practical advice on how to find, hire and manage a high school intern – the experience not only benefits the student but also enables companies and organizations to get work done that would otherwise be left in the “important but not urgent” pile.
Our company successfully hired a high school intern last summer and we have two high school students joining us this summer.
Finding a High School Intern
The first place to start is to contact local public and private high school counseling departments to see if they have an internship program. For many schools, high school internships is an informal process, for others it’s core to the academic program of the school. A well-publicized example is The Cristo Rey Network (profiled on 60 Minutes) where inner city students fund a private school education by working for partnering companies. Our company has partnered with The Menlo School’s Connections Beyond the Classroom program (due to the proximity of the school to our corporate office). Dublin High’s Career Center (led by career education specialist Amanda Carlson) provides more information for Dublin students. If none of your local high schools have a formal program (and many do not), approach the counseling department to see if you can post an opportunity.
The California Scholarship Federation (CSF) /California Junior Scholarship Federation (CJSF) Central Coast Region Spring Conference will be held this Saturday, April 16, at Dublin High School from 8:00am – 2:00pm. The event is open to all CSF members, their parents and school advisors. Participants can register onsite at the new Dublin High School Sports Complex for a cost of $25 per person. A map to Dublin High School (Dublin, California) is available here.
[UPDATE 4/18/11: a write-up of the event with video coverage is available here on Dublin Patch.]
The packed agenda includes a diverse line-up of workshops including: Robotics Demonstration/Workshop, How to be a Successful High School Student, CSF Advisor Workshop, How to Manage Your Stress and Your Time, CJSF Advisor Workshop, Fun with Chemistry, Enhancing Your Leadership Skills and The College Admission Process. Dublin High School teachers, counselors, students and Mayor Tim Sbranti will be leading the workshops and sessions. The CSF Seymour Award and CJSF Huhn Award winners will also be announced. The CSF Seymour Award recognizes 50 outstanding students from over 1000 CSF Chapters and approximately 100,000 CSF student members. The CJSF Huhn Award recognizes 25 outstanding students from 600 state Chapters. Over $90,000 is awarded to students receiving these awards.
Dublin High School’s student Gourmet Gaels are catering lunch with entertainment provided by the Dublin High School Jazz Combo.
A detailed agenda and workshop topics is available below:
Many factors play a role in college acceptance: college prep course selection, SAT / ACT results, class rank, community service, extracurricular activities, college admission essays / interviews and, of course, a student’s GPA (grade point average). For Dublin High School students, as per information provided by DHS Counseling, there are five GPAs made available on student transcripts. Why more than one GPA? Colleges and universities in California, and across the US, vary in how they assess student academic performance.
The most basic form of GPA is a 9-12 unweighted GPA where achieving an A = 4 points, a B = 3 points, a C = 2 points and a D = 1 point. The sum of grade points for courses taken is divided by the total number of courses to calculate a 9-12 grade point average or GPA. The maximum possible unweighted GPA is 4.0. Some colleges take into account the difference between an “A+” and an “A-” (where an “A+” = 4.0 and each step down removes 1/3 of a point); others don’t. A weighted GPA can exceed 4.0 as outlined below.
Rarely, however, is this simple form of GPA used. Some colleges do look a student’s freshman year, others only at grades 10-11 (while setting post-acceptance criteria on grade 12 results). Some colleges use an unweighted GPA while others factor in a “grade bump” for students that choose to take AP / Honors courses. The exact formula used by each college is not always made public.
University of California GPA Calculation
Thinking of ways to spend Spring Break? How about taking your college-bound children to a local college fair. St. Mary’s College of California is hosting the 20th annual East Bay College Connection Fair on Saturday April 9 from 1:00pm – 4:30pm. Last year’s event attracted 150 colleges and over 2,000 students to St. Mary’s beautiful Moraga campus (directions).
This is a free event open to the public. In addition to hosting colleges and universities from across the country, there will also be a variety of workshops, in both English and Spanish, on everything from Admissions and Financial Aid to the Scholar Athlete and services for students with learning disabilities. Parents, students, educators and counselors can meet with college representatives from across the country – all in one afternoon.
Due to limited parking, a shuttle from the Orinda BART Station has been arranged (conveniently running every 20 minutes during the event).
OneDublin.org interviewed Gina Meneni, Senior Associate Director – Admissions at St. Mary’s College, on the college admissions process and the St. Mary’s College of California experience:
Dublin High School announced the hiring today of John Wade as the new Varsity Football Head Coach, replacing Casey Moreno who stepped down last December after four years with the team. Wade noted the growing population at Dublin High as one factor in his decision to join the school.
John Wade brings with him deep roots in the East Bay, extensive coaching experience, and a record of success. Wade coached the last 15 years at Miramonte High School in Orinda, serving as head coach for nine seasons. During his tenure, his teams compiled an overall record of 78 wins and 33 losses. His teams won Diablo Foothill Athletic League titles in 2002, 2003, 2005 and 2010. Under his leadership his teams also took North Coast Section 2A East Bay titles in 2003 and 2006 and were the #1 ranked 2A team in the State of California in 2003, as ranked by CalHiSports.com.
In addition, Wade was named the Contra Costa Times Coach of the Year in 2005. He is a graduate of Miramonte High School, where he played football, basketball, baseball, and the University of California at Davis, where he played football for the Aggies. Wade holds a teaching credential in Social Studies and Physical Education and taught at Las Lomas High School for one year and Miramonte High School for the last 14 years. He lives in San Ramon with his wife and two daughters.
Fallon Middle School’s Monica Dennis on Teaching Science
Monica Dennis
Fallon Middle School science teacher Monica Dennis earned her undergraduate degree at CSU East Bay and post graduate degree at Mills College in Oakland. Monica attended on a scholarship created to help promote more minorities in science classrooms. Monica completed her student teaching in Piedmont and at San Lorenzo High School. Monica’s first job was in an elementary science classroom and after a few months she realized how much she missed teaching older children, and started looking for a job closer to home, which brought her to Dublin over 10 years ago where she started at Wells Middle School before joining Fallon.
After school Monica helps run the Chevron Science Explorers Club and in the summer runs a Biotech Summer Academy at Cal State East Bay in Concord for high school students.
OneDublin.org: What is your favorite thing about teaching science?
Danee Mitchell is a third grade teacher at Dublin Elementary School and for the past several years has held college month in her classroom. For the past two years, Dublin High School alumni have supported the effort by presenting to her students. Ms. Mitchell daughter Arianna Mitchell (a Dublin High School Class of 2008 graduate) has been instrumental in contacting and arranging guest speakers. Ms. Mitchell has also called on former Dublin Elementary School students.
The Dublin High School alumni that support college month in Ms. Mitchell’s class take time away from their spring break to come in and talk about their experiences in college. Although college is a long way off for Ms. Mitchell’s third grade students, they talk about the Dublin High alumni speakers long after the college students leave.
This year’s Dublin High alumni speakers were:
- Haley Burgardt, Cal-Poly – Environmental Management and Protection
- Chris Dyer, UC Davis – Mechanical Engineering
- Ian Lundberg, San Jose State University – Animation
- MacKensie Minniear, UC Santa Barbara – Communication/Black Studies
- Arianna Mitchell, UC Santa Cruz – Bio-Chemistry/Molecular Biology
- Jamie Somerville, UC San Diego – Nano-Engineering
Jamie Somerville also wrote about his experiences as a freshman at UC San Diego last year as part of OneDublin.org’s Life in College Series. Read more…
Dublin High Alumni Support Dublin Elementary College Month
Cindy Rosefield and Family
When we think of the traditional academic definition of the three R’s, it’s Reading, Writing and Arithmetic. In 2011, we should seriously consider a fourth R – “Rhythm”. OneDublin.org recently had the opportunity to visit with a Dublin resident that has expanded her passion for music into the community, her workplace and her family. We are pleased to introduce Ms. Cindy Browne Rosefield.
After starting a career in teaching at Chabot College in Hayward, Cindy has been an Instructor of Instrumental Music at Las Positas College since 1998. Additionally, she has served in the role of Performing Arts Coordinator at LPC. The pinnacle achievement over the past four years was the successful construction of the Barbara Fracisco Mertes Center for the Arts. This brand new structure at the front end of the campus is a towering symbol and represents a reminder to the importance of the performing arts at Las Positas College and in the community.
Cindy is a mother of two children enrolled in the Dublin Unified School District. Matthew is a sixth grader at Wells Middle School and Claire is a fourth grader at Frederiksen Elementary School. Respectively, they play the trumpet and flute.
OneDublin.org: As a parent of younger children, how do you view the value of music as part of their education?
Nine Dublin High School students submitted five projects to the 2011 Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory sponsored Tri-Valley Science and Engineering Fair, out of a total of 423 participating students and 262 submitted projects.
Building on last year’s success, where Dublin High’s Kirsten Mengell won 1st place for her project, Dublin High came home with a 2nd place, 3rd place, special award and honorable mention for submitted projects. Judging was conducted by over 150 scientists and engineers from the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory and other local science organizations.
- 2nd Place Award in Behavioral and Social Sciences and the special award for Psychology to Vijay Mittal and Joshua Price for : “Arachnophobia in High School”
- 3rd place in Biochemistry to Jennifer Lee for: “Identifying Flower Pigments Using Electrophoresis”
- Honorable Mention in Microbiology to Akshay Aitha and Aaron Yu for : “The Effect of Pollution on Protist Populations in the Bay Area”
- Brandon Lo and Kimberli Zhong submitted a study of “Motor Oil and Aquatic Plants”
- Brooke Brunckhorst and Cassandra Lai submitted a project on “The Affects of Different Types of Medicine for Tension Type Headaches”
Green Elementary Students Embrace “Senbazuru” for Japan
Cranes folded by a Green Elementary student
A group of John Green Elementary School parents, moved by the tragic earthquake and tsunami that recently devastated Japan, have rallied Green students to create 1,000 origami cranes – the ancient Japanese tradition of Senbazuru. Senbazuru promises that a person who folds 1,000 cranes will be granted a wish, such as long life or recovery from illness or disaster.
Every student at Green is participating, with parents and 5th graders helping the younger students. In addition, students will also write “Wish for Japan” notes to accompany the project. Viewing of the project will take place on the same evening as Green Elementary’s Art ‘N Action Art Show (currently scheduled for Thursday May 5). Parents will shortly be receiving letters home about the project. Dublin Elementary School is considering a similar initiative.
Families are also asked to donate whatever they can to the Japanese Cultural Community Center of Northern California (JCCCNC) which will ensure that 100% of donations go directly to help victims of the tragedy.
Thank you to Lisa Doherty for providing information regarding this project.
Related Articles:
- The 1,000 Cranes for Japan Project (from Dublin Patch, by Lisa Doherty)
OneDublin.org 