D.C. businesses have until Friday to offer work experiences to hundreds of high school students through an internship program.
It’s called the Advanced Internship Program, and Mayor Muriel Bowser said it will fund internships for 330 students.
The jobs will give the students work experience, while also allowing businesses to bring on interns paid by the program.
“While it is an internship — that means it’s a lot of rigor and focus and supervision — it’s also a job you can get paid [for] while you’re doing it,” Bowser said.
The program began in spring and had 31 participating employers. To participate, students must be studying specific career tracks at school as part of the city’s Career and Technical Education programs.
“It’s ensuring that students who experienced the pandemic but came back strong and ready to learn have the opportunity to learn and work,” said State Superintendent Christina Grant.
The city is in need of employers who can offer internships in the following industries:
- Architecture and construction
- Arts, AV technology and communications
- Business management and finance
- Engineering
- Health science
- Hospitality and tourism
- Information technology
- Law, public safety and security
Interested employers can sign up here.
Grant said in addition to getting paid $16.10 for eight to 12 hours of work per week, the students will also earn high school credits with their internships.
Kiara Lucas, a rising senior at Calvin Coolidge High School, was among the first group of students to take part in the internship opportunity. Lucas, who wants to be a forensic scientist, interned at The George Washington University’s Rodham institute.
“I really learned a lot from my internship, and I know that it will influence my career path,” Lucas said.
