Senior Internship Program Description

Program Vision: Our vision is to increase the representation of women and people of color working in STEM fields by adequately preparing our students for STEM college majors and careers. Working in a professional environment alongside worksite supervisors will equip students with hard and soft skills that will enable them to graduate from college in a STEM major and to become future problem solvers, innovators and leaders in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math.

Program Goals: Speer Academy faculty and students will work with you to meet the following objectives

• Establish a mutually beneficial partnership with business partners: professionals provide mentorship and teach professional skills while students contribute to unpaid work to the business or organization.
• Connect students with STEM professionals according to their areas of interest.
• Explore the educational requirements, traits and skills required in a STEM career of interest.
• Develop hard and soft skills in a professional setting.
• Promote the training of future employees in STEM careers.
• Increase the inclusion of underrepresented populations in STEM and professional fields.

Internship Logistics:

• Students attend internship on Fridays for a minimum of 5 hours. Students must earn a minimum of 90 hours from mid-October-mid-April.
• Because the senior internship is a graduation requirement, students will not be paid at their placements.
• Students take a class at Speer Academy that coincides with their internships and reinforces the hard and soft skills they are developing, as well as presenting them with the opportunity to build a resume, improve their professional communication skills, research a career of interest, and develop a product related to the work they do in their placements.
• Students maintain a journal of activities and learning at internship (to be submitted to internship teacher).
• The worksite supervisor ensures that student has arrived, evaluates the student’s work at the internship site and communicates with the Internship Coordinator on regular basis regarding progress, concerns, etc.

Worksite Supervisor Requirements:

• Each internship worksite supervisor will be assigned 1 or more students (depending on the capacity of the worksite) for the duration of the internship (October-April).
• As a Worksite Supervisor, you must
  • Be willing to mentor a student, provide professional work exposure, and have a genuine desire to help foster an interest in your profession in future generations.
  • Work together with Speer Academy to create a plan for what the student(s) will be involved in during the internship time that considers the student's safety and wellbeing. Students may either shadow and observe, or actively participate in some form of meaningful work that facilitates learning about the career. The plan, created with Speer Academy partners, should include a description of the internship, learning objectives and the desired qualifications of a student placed in your business or organization.
  • Be willing to commit to forming a relationship with the Speer Academy, and host interns in subsequent school years.
  • Agree to submit two performance reviews evaluating the professionalism of your intern(s).
  • Commit to regular communication with the internship coordinator regarding student progress as well as any concerns, including notifying her regarding any problematic situation with the student at the internship site or if student is late or absent from scheduled internship hours.
  • Complete and sign the Memorandum of Understanding with Speer Academy partners.
  • Provide the necessary supervision, training, precautionary safety instruction in the performance of the position duties and responsibilities described in the Memorandum of Understanding.