Stories From the Field: Voyages

Ongoing Feedback and Support from Beginning to End

At Voyages Preparatory High School, a lot of work goes into preparing students for their internship. There is an inventory of students’ goals, delving into what they hope to gain from the experience. There is a debrief on their future job’s expectations, going over site rules and responsibilities. Then there is explicit instruction on the skills required to be successful. Finally, there is coordination with personnel on the site, ensuring students land in a space with mentors ready to support them. But all this emphasis on preparation is just the beginning. 

The lion's share of the work at Voyages's LTW program comes from the ongoing support Queens Community House staff give to students once they are assigned an internship. Consistent feedback loops are threaded throughout the program, providing transparent communication between school staff, students, caregivers, and job site supervisors. These routines combine to allow for integrated, coordinated support, defined by ongoing adjustment to improve a student’s experience. As such, the feedback loops are a structural expression of the school’s philosophy of taking a holistic approach to their students’ well-being. Given the importance Voyages put on maintaining these routines, we decided to visit the school to learn more about how they put them into practice, and what the support looks like for LTW interns. 

Best Practices for Tracking Interns’ Progress

In a conversation with Principal Nicholas Merchant-Bleiger, LTW Program Director Sukiana Sanchez, Work-Based Learning Coordinator (WBLC) Amanda Roopa, and their advocate counselors (ACs), they discussed how their team consistently updates each other on students’ progress. When we were given a tour of the building, the ACs’ offices were filled with students stopping by and asking questions. As you enter the space, a whiteboard on your left is beautifully laid out with updates ranging from upcoming birthdays and student shout-outs to application deadlines and field trips. Besides that, a lounge area where students can hang out as they wait to be called into conferences with their AC. At Voyages, each AC has its own private office, and Merchant-Bleiberg credits the decision to prioritize the space for conversation as a key ingredient in their partnership’s success. 

This is the space where coordination happens. Goal setting begins by setting clear expectations with students and using the Xello platform to assess students’ interests.  New interns visit sites to learn the expectations and identify the skills they want to develop. The IC and ACs then guide students through different forms of assessments including a soft skills assessment, which are used to enrich students' previously identified goals. An internship spreadsheet is consistently updated with this information and used to create an internship newsletter that is sent out to make sure students are aware of what is happening at Voyages. No one is left on their own. 

The Value of Regular Check-ins

In multiple focus groups, we heard how check-ins between students and LTW staff provided critical opportunities to get feedback on their internship and support making adjustments. One student intern noted, “They advocate for your mental health or if you just need a break, they understand. They really care.” Another student expressed a similar sentiment stating, “I usually go to my [WBL] coordinator whenever I need help or I need someone to listen to me or when I don't feel okay and I just need a space to be in.” Crucially this was a two-way dialogue with one student explaining, “They make sure to keep me in the loop, make sure I understand the process. It’s very helpful.” Another noted, “They're telling me if somebody's not responding or how long it's going to take… They make sure I know.” 

The Role and Responsibilities of the WBLC

Amanda Roopa is the primary point person for interns and site supervisors and maintains consistent communication with both. Her office is meticulously organized with neatly stacked binders and notebooks and a colorful purple bulletin board filled with instructions for how to join an internship and tips for balancing work and school. Roopa is in regular contact with site supervisors, scouting sites before any student is placed and visiting each site at least once a month. Additionally, she meets with site supervisors between thirty to forty-five minutes, two to three times a year to discuss students’ progress. Roopa also schedules regular check-ins with interns, one of which we observed during our visit. It was an action-packed 15 minutes. Roopa and the intern discussed whether they liked their current placement, the skills they were learning, and the soft skills they could be working on while Roopa took a steady stream of handwritten notes in a notebook, which she later entered into Salesforce. These check-ins and accountability were widely appreciated by students. “My coordinator helps me learn how to stay professional. I work out of a pharmacy, so you have a lot of patience with people… [We walk] through it just to try to keep my composure.” Another student shared, “Last year I had a problem with my work site. At the time, I felt very anxious about it and I spoke to my [WBL] coordinator about it and they let me know what I should be doing, what I should do, who I should email.” 

Strong Practices for Performance Evaluations

A final component of Voyages's feedback loop is going over interns’ performance evaluations. Before Roopa sits down with interns, she and site supervisors review the ratings together so she can get clarity and push supervisors for concrete examples she can share with students that support their ratings. She can then take these to students and ask them to come up with anecdotes confirming or pushing back on their supervisor's experience. Roopa noted that to make sure that these evaluations are constructive - not a gotcha moment or surprise -she liaises with interns and site supervisors consistently so that she can provide students with feedback as early as possible. In our student focus group, we learned that students appreciated this direct feedback immensely with one student sharing, “It's good pointers so you don't have to theorize what you could be doing better… It's just straightforward.” By providing this level of steady feedback from all aspects of the internship, Voyages LTW puts students in an empowered position, aware of how their actions affect their internship, armed with information from their supervisors,  and with lots of opportunities to adjust for success.