Aaron Gracie wants to be an engineer. While he's undecided about whether to pursue civil or mechanical engineering, his experience as an intern this summer for the Albert M. Higley construction firm in Cleveland has shown him one thing:
"I've met a few people who have either their bachelor's or master's in engineering and are actually working as project managers or project executives," says Gracie, a junior at MC2STEM High School. "So it's kind of a neat way to see how my goals could end up affecting where I'm working."
Meanwhile, Valencia Mitchell, a junior at Design Lab Early College High School, has a summer internship with Digital City Mechanics through its Futuristic Young Ideas program. Mitchell, who envisions a career in radio broadcasting -- perhaps radio promotions -- says she's learning a variety of ways promotions can be done on-line.
"They teach us everything we need to know about online promotions, how to create them, how to put videos in them, and how to bring publicity to have people come back to a website. They also teach us how to sell stuff from a website, add login to a website." she says. "Every week we learn something totally different from the last week and it's very interesting."
Both students are among 100 Cleveland students who were placed in internships this summer through a partnership between the MC2STEM Hub, Cleveland-based Youth Opportunities Unlimited and the Northeast Ohio Council on Higher Education's NEO Intern program.
From early July through late August, the MC2STEM Hub is subsidizing the wages of 50 students from each high school for up to 120 hours of work per student at $8 an hour. Students like Mitchell and Gracie will earn high school credit for their work -- and apply some of what they've been learning in high school to real-work experiences.
Gracie describes his experience as "amazing."
"Just to get students figuring out what kind of careers are out there is really a great opportunity," he says.
And Mitchell?
"We've learned how to be a team," she says. "How everyone plays a part and a role."
Sources: Aaron Gracie, MC2STEM High School and Valencia Mitchell, Design Lab Early College High School
Writer: Gene Monteith