Published in the March 8, 2017 edition
By DAN TOMASELLO
LYNNFIELD — Lynnfield High School Principal Bob Cleary is optimistic more seniors will participate in the internship program this year.
Cleary appeared at the School Committee’s meeting last week to give an update on the high school’s improvement plan. The internship goal included as part of the plan strives to expand students’ learning opportunities in nontraditional ways.
The high school launched a pilot internship program last year, which was well received by eight students.
“We are really excited about where our internship program is,” said Cleary. “We were able to get some feedback from the eight students who did it last year, which led us to refine our guidelines and application process. We shared that with the staff earlier in the year.”
Cleary said the internship program was presented to seniors in January. Seniors will be able to do an internship at the end of the school year.
“We have had a lot of inquiries from students,” said Cleary. “The deadline for students to apply is March 24. We are hoping to get more students this year and build the program. We will continue to get more feedback about what their experience was like. We will be able to show the work students did last year so students can see examples.”
In addition to having seniors intern at a business outside of the high school, Cleary said students will be able to participate in programs inside of LHS as well. He said these opportunities include working as a teacher’s assistant or for the athletic department.
“We have put together a list of independent study work that students can use,” said Cleary. “It can be done for a semester or a whole year, depending on the number of hours a student wants to put in. We are trying to expand the opportunities for kids who don’t want to leave school. We have kids who can’t wait to get out of the building and we have other kids who don’t want to leave before the end of the school year because they have a lot of things going on.”
Cleary said the internship program “will give students multiple opportunities” to explore different career paths. He said the high school wants to offer an exhibit so townspeople can review what students accomplished while interning at a local business.
“It will depend on the number of students we have,” said Cleary. “If we have more than 10 to 15 students, we think the exhibition portion will be worth while.”
Cleary said the high school is compiling a list of teachers interested in becoming a mentor. He said students participating in the internship program will have a mentor inside of the high school and a guide at the business where the student is interning.
“The program’s emphasis is on the student,” said Cleary. “The mentors and guides will be giving minimal input, and the student will be doing the lion’s share of the work. As we continue to move forward, we are hoping to build up a list of businesses and people who might be interested in having kids intern year in and year out.”
Cleary said high school officials “are keeping our fingers crossed that we have a bigger turnout this year.”
“We are hoping to add more kids each year and it will continue to grow,” said Cleary. “I think it’s an important program that could benefit a lot of our students. We are excited about it.”
