Program Overview

The Senior Internship Experience is a three-week project, beginning on Wednesday, April 24, 2024 and ending on Wednesday, May 15, 2024 with a culminating evening event, the Senior Symposium. During the three-week period, Senior Interns will gain valuable experiences working with and observing a professional in the community, learning about a potential career path. During those three weeks, Senior Interns would not be required to attend their AHS classes (with the exception of AP and Excel TECC classes), and will instead be responsible for attending and documenting a total of 90 hours of time on their internship experience (approximately 30 hours per week, which is equivalent to a school week).

During the internship period, Senior Interns will collaborate with a professional of their choice - their Community Advisor. Given the unique circumstances brought about by COVID, these experiences with the Community Advisor may be in-person (interns accompany their advisors into the workplace), virtual (interns attend virtual functions with their advisor), or independent tasks/projects assigned by their advisor. 

Senior Interns will also select a faculty member at AHS to serve as their Faculty Advisor. Once per week, interns will arrange to meet with their Faculty Advisor (virtually or in-person) in order to check in, share their experiences, and submit and review two assignments - their Internship Journal Entries and Internship Timelog. 

On the final day of internship, Wednesday, May 15, 2024, the experience will culminate with Senior Symposium. This event, held at Aurora High School at 7 p.m., is a chance for Senior Interns to share their internship experiences with a group of their peers. They will be divided into small groups and will take turns presenting, not only sharing about their own experiences but having the chance to learn about the experiences of others.

The second semester grades for seniors who participate in the internship experience will be calculated differently. For non-AP classes, 50% of the semester grade will be determined by their 3rd Quarter Grade, and 50% of the semester grade will be determined by their 4th Quarter Grade up until the day internship begins (the final day of grade calculation for non-AP classes would be Tuesday, April 23, 2024). For AP classes, 50% of the semester grade will be determined by their 3rd Quarter Grade, and 50% of the semester grade will be determined by their 4th Quarter Grade up through and including AP tests (seniors on internship will still attend AP classes and AP tests even during the three-week internship period).

For those participating, the successful completion of internship is a requirement for participation in Commencement and receiving a diploma, since it serves as the equivalent of three weeks of the school year.