Next Gen High School Internship Program: Benefits and Opportunities
High school internships offer invaluable learning experiences where students can put their technical skills to use, start building a professional network, and gain the interpersonal skills needed to begin and maintain a successful career in industry. Participating in an internship while in high school can set students apart as they seek postsecondary college and career opportunities.
Introduction: The Rise of High School Internships
In a rapidly evolving world, the importance of practical experience cannot be overstated. High school internships have emerged as a crucial stepping stone for young individuals, providing them with a taste of the professional world and equipping them with skills that extend far beyond the classroom. These programs benefit students and employers by building future pipelines and infusing diverse talent into their workforces.
The Next Gen Internship Model: A Comprehensive Approach
The Next Gen biomedical research internship program celebrated its largest class this year. The program started in 2022 and works to diversify STEM fields by providing hands-on internships for area teens. During the Next Gen summer internship program, high school students spend five weeks shadowing Emory researchers and genetic counselors, learning about biology and genetics in the classroom, taking field trips and getting career advice. This year's Next Gen cohort consisted of 17 students. Most commuted from their homes in the Atlanta area, while two who lived farther away - in Suwanee and Warner Robins - stayed in residence halls on Emory’s Clairmont campus.
“This year, we cast a wider net as far as recruiting labs to host interns,” says Emily Allen, assistant professor of human genetics and director of the Next Gen program. “This meant the students had a wider set of experiences and there were more opportunities for them to learn from each other.”Next Gen was organized by the Department of Human Genetics, and several interns worked in Human Genetics labs. However, this year organizers were also able to place interns in laboratories from the Departments of Microbiology and Immunology, Pathology, Cell Biology, Pharmacology and Chemical Biology, and Biology, as well as the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering.
During their time at Emory (and in one case, at Georgia Tech), students were able to gain experience with cutting-edge research techniques in the laboratory. For instance, Tristan Salamanca, who worked in the laboratory of Jimena Andersen, which studies spinal cord and motor neuron development, got to slice brain organoids. Brain organoids are derived from pluripotent stem cells and simulate brain development in a way that can be experimentally manipulated. Another intern, Oyin Adebomojo, probed brain tissue samples from patients with ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis). Working with Zach McEachin in the Department of Human Genetics, she was looking for signs of activation of cryptic exons, which have been proposed as key parts of ALS’s characteristic neurodegenerative pathology.Adebomojo said she peppered McEachin with “so many questions.” When presenting during the capstone symposium, she reassured the audience that the tissue samples were obtained postmortem: “Don’t worry, they’re not alive.”
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Intern Nahreen Shamon Ayala reported that one of her most moving and distinctive experiences this summer was visiting Atlanta’s High Museum of Art with clients of the Center for the Visually Impaired. Shamon Ayala was placed in the Georgia Tech laboratory of Ming-Fai Fong, which is developing plasticity-based interventions for visual impairment, and discovered a talent for fixing Perkins Braille typewriters. At the concluding symposium, students said they gained valuable perspectives on both future career paths and laboratory research specifically. Interns heard from several speakers who shared details about their own career paths, ranging from roles in the laboratory or hospital to a patent lawyer or medical science liaison.
“Success is not a linear path - it’s okay to encounter detours,” says Epherata Zeleke, reflecting on advice from several speakers. “Everything is part of the process - even the unsuccessful areas,” said Tiana Reid, who encountered some glitches while growing cells in culture in a Department of Biology laboratory. In 2023, the Next Gen program was supported by the Avantor Foundation, the Warren-Alpert Foundation, the Schneider Foundation and department funding. The program includes an internship stipend of $2,600 as well as weekday lunches and transportation. The department plans to offer the program again next year.
Benefits for High School Students
High school internships provide a multitude of benefits for participating students, shaping their academic and professional trajectories.
Career Exploration and Insight
An internship is essentially an introductory work experience in a professional career field. For students who want to gain experience in research, medicine, law, or other professions normally requiring an advanced degree, an internship is a way to gain some insight and experience without the commitment of a degree. Interns gain valuable perspectives on future career paths and laboratory research specifically.
Skill Development
Interns are guaranteed work that contributes to NGA's mission of creating worldclass geospatial intelligence. All interns will be assigned relevant, critical work focused on growing your professional skillset. Internships allow students to put their technical skills to use and gain the interpersonal skills needed to begin and maintain a successful career in industry.
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Networking Opportunities
Throughout the summer, interns will have the opportunity to learn about NGA's myriad of missions, tour agencies within the Intelligence Community and develop their network. Interns can start building a professional network, connecting with professionals in their field of interest.
Increased Confidence and Maturity
The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to our growth. High school internships provide a platform for personal growth and scientific experimentation while connecting with peers.
College Admissions Advantage
In general, any internship is beneficial to your application, but some are more influential than others. For example, the more high-profile and selective the opportunity, the better it looks to a prospective school. Similarly, the more responsibility and leadership a student demonstrates in an internship position, the more likely it is to catch the eye of an admissions office. Participating in an internship while in high school can set students apart as they seek postsecondary college and career opportunities.
Benefits for Employers
High school internship programs are equally beneficial for employers, offering a unique opportunity to shape the future workforce.
Talent Pipeline Development
Internships are a key way organizations build future pipelines and infuse diverse talent into their workforces. By opening internships up to a wide variety of high school students with diverse backgrounds and skill sets, employers can cultivate a student’s interest in their industry sooner rather than later.
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Fresh Perspectives and Innovation
Community Engagement and Social Responsibility
Opportunity to give back
“The Summer Internship Program is about early exposure to empowerment,” said Arsheen Qader, Director of the Internship Program. “We want high school students-especially those who may never have imagined a future in law-to see how capable and valued they already are. Director of People and Culture Karen Daniel sees the internship as a natural extension of the firm’s values. “We believe in sharing knowledge and fostering growth. This program is about investing in future advocates, regardless of how early they are in their journey,” she said.
Adapting to the Changing Landscape: Virtual Internships
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced industry leaders and educators alike to rethink their internship programs and what the key components of them are and what they should be. As a result, the traditional internship experience has changed. This last year saw a number of public school systems shift to almost entirely virtual learning, Boston Public Schools (BPS) among them. As companies rethink their operations, they have started to explore the future of internships for high school students. This last year, companies that have been able to continue to host interns, have done so virtually. Virtual internships brought challenges and opportunities for both employers and students. For example, one of the companies that works with the PIC realized that, much like their full-time employees, student interns needed someone to check on how they were holding up mentally. They implemented “Mental Health Mondays” to support both full-time employees and interns.
Benefits of Virtual Internships
Employers that opted to continue their internship programs remotely, for example, found that they had a more diverse population of students (and talent) as part of their applicant pool.
Challenges of Virtual Internships
Students could not physically be in the office spaces to get to know the employees there or their fellow interns. They needed to make much more of an intentional effort to get to know the people they were working with.
Preparing Students for Virtual Internships
To account for less direct involvement, companies have started extending professional development opportunities to their interns. Networking and public speaking are the most popular areas of interest according to companies the PIC works with.
Examples of High School Internship Programs
Numerous organizations offer internship programs for high school students across various fields.
STEM-Focused Programs
- The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Scholars Program: Offers valuable hands-on experiences working with full-time AFRL scientists and engineers on cutting-edge research and technology.
- Zuckerman Institute’s BRAINYAC (Brain Research Apprenticeships in New York at Columbia): Connects NYC 10th and 11th graders with scientists for hands-on neuroscience research experiences.
- The Scripps Translational Science Institute (STSI) Student Research Internship Program: Students will work within the program to complete a research project, encapsulating it in a final presentation to faculty.
- Princeton University: Offers a full-time research experience for students looking to enter STEM fields such as engineering and natural sciences.
- Simons Summer Research Program: Provides hands-on experience in science, math, or engineering as participants work closely with faculty mentors on real research projects.
Other Programs
- CHCI NextGen Latino Leadership Program: Spend a week exploring Washington, D.C., attend civic engagement and leadership workshops, and build life-long friendships.
- The Hutton Program: A paid summer internship and mentoring program for high school juniors and seniors interested in pursuing natural resource and environmental management.
- Ladder Internships: A selective start-up internship program for ambitious high school students.
- United States Secret Service (USSS) Pathways Program: Through participation in the USSS Pathways Program, students gain insight into the nature and structure of the Secret Service while gaining valuable personal and professional skills. Students must be at least a junior in high school, have a minimum 2.5 GPA, and be in good academic standing.
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