Fresno High School Intern Gets Career Experience
May 9, 2010
by Tracy Correa
While many of his high school classmates have their noses deep in textbooks, 16-year-old Aaron Mosby gets to spend some of his class time at Fresno’s Chaffee Zoo.
But Aaron isn’t playing hooky — he’s in an off-campus internship designed to give him real-world career experience. It’s part of his curriculum at Big Picture High School, a Fresno charter school that opened this year. Aaron is one of a growing number of high school students learning outside of the classroom in an unpaid internship and getting class credit for it.
School officials say it’s part of a growing trend to provide students a taste of the working world — something they could never learn from a textbook. They say it helps keep students interested in school and focused on reaching their career goals. It’s not that schools are providing fewer of the basic academic classes, said Tracewell Hanrahan, executive officer of school leadership for Fresno Unified School District. Work experience programs “are about reinforcing and complementing core academics. … Students make the connection between what they are learning in the classroom and work.”
Even as state funding continues to dwindle, school districts are trying to create more work-experience opportunities for students, said Dennis Guido, career and workforce innovations administrator for the CA Dept. of Education.
“I believe that more school districts across the state are realizing they need to be focused on their students’ careers in high school,” he said. Work-experience programs — whether through internships, regional occupational programs or community classrooms — provide tremendous benefits for students, he said.
At least two California studies suggest internships keep students interested in school and on track to graduate, Guido said. Internships also give students a competitive edge after high school by keeping them focused on college or preparing them for a career. Regional occupational program students go on to earn higher pay after high school than students without early work experience, and they are more likely to be promoted, according to one of the studies, he said. Statewide, regional occupational program enrollment has been growing annually by about 20,000 to 30,000 students, Guido said. In 2007-08, about 400,000 ROP students were enrolled in California schools.
Many schools still consider the career work experience programs a priority. Big Picture High School — part of a national nonprofit charter chain — promises to provide students “real-world” experience as part of the curriculum. The school opened in Fresno this year and has 95 students in grades 7 through 10. The school will have juniors next year and seniors the following year. About 15 students have been placed in internships this year, said the school’s executive director, Jon Morse. The number is expected to grow as the school establishes its business partners, he said. The goal is for all ninth- and 10th-graders to complete an internship.
For Aaron, who was held back a grade and is older than most of his ninth-grade classmates, the internship has sparked a renewed interest in school. He said he’s thinking about becoming a veterinarian. When at the zoo, he sometimes helps walk one of the alpacas or llamas. Sometimes he helps set up for a new exhibit.
“At the end of the day, I feel good,” he said. “I like learning hands-on.” It’s the first time Chaffee Zoo has accepted a high school intern, and there were issues to discuss, including liability. Morse said Big Picture is responsible for Aaron.