Susan Carroll thinks she has the perfect cure for senioritis: a job. That's why New Canaan High School is preparing to start a Senior Internship Program to give students real-world work experience before they conclude their high school careers.
NCHS students accepted into the program will work 30 hours a week for four weeks at area businesses beginning in mid-May. A SIP steering committee and the New Canaan Chamber of Commerce are contacting area businesses to see if they will take on interns. Participating students will receive credit rather than getting paid.
Carroll, coordinator of the NCHS College and Career Center, said the program will give many students their first taste of work because so many kids are busy with sports or other extracurricular activities to work after school or in the summer. "I hope that after spending four weeks at an internship site ... that students will gain valuable, real-life work experience," she said.
Principal Tony Pavia said the school hopes "students will welcome that opportunity -- and we'll be offering a potential employer a very qualified student for 30 hours a week."
Schools in Fairfield, Darien and Greenwich already have similar programs, Carroll said. "We wanted to be able to compete with those schools, and this was one of the things New Canaan High School was actually missing," Carroll said.
Based on a survey of about 100 students, Carroll said there is interest in internships involving engineering, designing, business and teaching. Carroll would like SIP to keep students busy in the typically slow final days before graduation. "I'm hoping this will be the perfect antidote to the seniors losing interest in high school," she said.
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