PEABODY ― The district is looking to connect high school students with area businesses as a part of its internship program.
Program Director Dr. Chris Lord says the focus for now is on placement of CTE (career and technical education) students in their respective fields, which he says will “better prepare the students years down the road when they enter the workforce.
“The internship program has been around for a while, and that’s exactly what it does: It offers our students a unique opportunity to gain real-world work experience,” Lord said. “For now, it’s more of a pilot program, but our hope is to take it to scale for all of Peabody High. We’re working through the chamber (Peabody Area Chamber of Commerce) and hope to present it to the Rotary Club soon.”
Lord said the school is hoping to place 40 upper class CTE students. The CTE program features six disciplines ― cosmetology, electronics (fiber optics/drones), culinary arts, early-childhood education, medical assisting, and protective services.
Twelve medical assisting students have signed up and will be placed in various departments at the Lahey Clinic starting in November. Lord said the Lahey partnership has been in place for “several years now, and is the most mature internship offered by the school.”
Twenty-two early-education seniors have signed up to begin work at various elementary schools and the Higgins Middle School. The school has also reached out to Kindercare and the in-house For Kids Only (FKO) programs with a start date of the beginning of the third quarter.
The culinary arts program has 10 interns who will be placed in local restaurants, including Not Your Average Joe’s and Maki Sushi. These internships are paid and will take place during school hours and/or after school starting sometime in February.
Twelve seniors in the cosmetology program will be placed in paid internships at local salons, where they will work during school hours and/or after school.
“The goal is to get the kids the hours they need to get their licenses by the end of April and then get into the salons sometime after that in May for their internships,” Lord said.
According to Lord, the school is working with the Peabody Police and Fire Departments and local courts to place up to four criminal-justice interns in unpaid positions sometime after the start of the third quarter. The school is also working with RCN to arrange paid internship positions for three seniors in the electronics engineering program with a potential start date in April.
Students will be onsite at participating businesses during the school day several times per week between 11 a.m.-2 p.m. or after school for one to three hours per day.
Students can also earn community service credits toward graduation. Forty community service hours are required to graduate.
The program includes guest speakers from local businesses who will come to Peabody High to speak to interested students about the opportunities they offer.
“We are also trying to build up businesses to come to the high school on Saturdays to help students gain the hours they need, be it in community service or toward licensure,” Lord said.
The internships are part of an ongoing effort to improve the quality of Peabody’s CTE program, which recently underwent a major overhauling after receiving a $175,000 Skills Capital Grant from the state. The grant was used to modernize the kitchen used for the culinary arts program and upgrade its electronics labs by purchasing fiber-optic equipment, robotics arms, hot-air soldering stations, drone kits, and 3D printers.
During a visit and tour of the CTE facilities at the high school, Gov. Charlie Baker lauded the district for its emerging public-private partnership with RCN, which has committed to hiring up to four students as paid interns.
“Having the first certified fiber-optics program in the country will be a good thing for RCN, for Peabody, and hopefully it will be a jumping-off point for a lot of other programs in the Commonwealth,” Baker said.
Anne Marie Tobin can be reached at [email protected].