How Does the Program Work?


The key components of Internship Quest include:

• placing students in the world of work as interns, adding relevance to what is learned in school
  
• monitoring of each internship to supervise student progress
  
• developing student internship projects in collaboration with community sponsors
  
• offering seminar and mentoring support for students based on employer requirements and 21st Century Skills.
  
• providing students the opportunity to explore various career pathways through experiential learning

What Can Students Gain from Internships?

Whatever their ultimate goals, students in internships benefit from:

• increased motivation in classroom learning and reduction of dropout incidents and credit recovery
  
• a greater sense of personal responsibility and accountability career exploration
  
• experience with state-of-the-art technology
  
• real-world experience for inclusion on resumes and college applications
  
• future employment opportunities/networking
  
• opportunity to gain life-long workplace skills
  

How Can Schools Use Internships?

Internships have been used in a variety of schools, in all types of communities to support:

• dropout prevention and programs for at-risk youth
  
• alternative education and alternative school programs
  
• senior projects/exhibitions
  
• service learning
  
• career exploration
  
• school-to-career/ school-to-work and work-based learning
  
• after school, or extended day, or out of school time programs

What Shapes the Internships?

The Internship Learning Plan (ILP) is one of the main features that distinguishes Internship Quest from other internship and work-based programs. The ILP identifies discrete site-specific areas of learning and shapes performance activities for the student.

Having a site-specific curriculum keeps everyone on track and assures that the student is not being used as a "go-fer." Internship programs become unfocused when there is no curriculum to guide the student's experience. Community sponsors often disengage from internship programs when they alone, without support are expected to keep a student occupied.

Once an ILP is developed for each site, it can be used from semester to semester,
and is easily modified. ILPs include such activities as:

• reflective journals
  
• organizational profiles and interviews
  
• research projects
  
• career exploration
  
• original creative projects
  
• exhibitions and presentations
  
• Unique site-based projects and activities