Five students at Hot Springs World Class High School are participating in a burgeoning internship program this year as part of the charter school component.
A major component of the district's charter application two years ago was career training. The high school opened as a conversion charter school for the 2016-17 school year with four career academies.
Focused programs of study are embedded into each of the academies of liberal studies, business and technology, industry and technology, and education and health care. The school is working to align internships with the academies.
"We wanted students to get some real world, hands-on experiences to help guide them and direct them in making those decisions transitioning out of high school," Crystal Myers, career services instructional facilitator, said.
The internships are planned as an opportunity for students to learn on-site critical thinking and problem-solving skills for specific career paths. Participating students will be awarded value-added diplomas upon graduation.
Myers met with potential interns when the school year began. Students had to meet grade-point average requirements, be 16 or older and have open flights within their flexible modular schedules.
"We have seen an increase in student interest for the internships, especially after we got that first round going," Principal Taryn Echols said. "We had a lot of students reach out to Ms. Myers and a lot of parents reached out to Ms. Myers about the potential for other internships.
"Since we set those requirements for the internships, it is making the students go back and do some reflecting on what they need to do to get their grade-point averages up and what they need to do to work on soft skills so they can work through the internship."
The first five students chosen were Ke'shon Ansley, Zach Brown, Jailian Gentry, Berlene Loua and Jacob Tester. Current local community internship partners include First Lutheran Church, ESPN Radio, Miller & Miller law firm, and physical therapist Betsy Yarborough.
Additional partners want to host students, but the program has not enlisted enough students to fill all requests. Ambrosia Bakery, Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival, Hot Springs Fire Department and TLI Print are among other partners who plan to host interns. Any organizations interested in becoming internship partners should call Myers at 501-624-5286.
Students began the application process soon after Myers met with them at the start of the school year. They were placed with their respective community partners by the first week of September. Echols and Myers said they have already seen participating students take more pride and leadership roles within the school and in the community.
"They are enjoying it and it is helping them make some solid decisions and guide them in which direction they want to go," Myers said. "From the partners, I have gotten nothing but positive feedback from them.
"We have had some challenges. Of course, that comes with learning the job, but with those challenges we have seen growth with our students. The partners have been able to give feedback of what they want from the students and the students are able to comply. They are building that professionalism within themselves."
Myers said the length of the internships and the final format has not yet been determined. A handbook was provided to students and internship partners to detail the current expectations of the internships.
Students must develop resumes, fulfill contracts, maintain time sheets and produce reflective summaries. Echols said the program was planned as a component of the charter application, but implementation was delayed from the first year.
"That was one of our goals coming into this year was really pushing the internship piece, along with the mentoring component," Echols said. "We have guest speakers on Wednesdays and Fridays to meet with all of our students.
"We have gotten a lot accomplished in six weeks of school, but we are really excited about where we are going to take this."
The internship program is planned to expand to include 20-40 students in the 2018-19 school year. Juniors are planned to participate in short-term internships. Seniors would sign up for more long-term internships to work with community partners for as long as a semester.
Local on 09/29/2017