The Senior Internship Program at New Canaan High School has grown so popular that organizers need more area businesses and organizations to participate in order to place all the work experience-hungry students now applying.
2015 NCHS Senior Internship Program participants. Photo by Jane Beiles
Some 100 NCHS seniors already have applied for the program, which will see participating students work as interns for the final month of the academic year in lieu of attending classes.
That’s already up from 80 total participants last year, and with an application deadline set for Wednesday, some 125 total students are likely to put in for the program, according to Susan Carroll, who oversees the SIP program as coordinator of the College and Career Center at NCHS.
One reason for the program’s soaring popularity is that members of the class of 2016 have always associated senior year at New Canaan High School with the Senior Internship Program, now in its sixth year, Carroll said.
“It’s more ingrained than ever before,” Carroll said. “And a lot of students who benefitted greatly last year came back to speak in December and they spoke highly of the program.”
As it stands, enough sites have stepped forward to take interns to accommodate the 80 kids who participated in SIP last year, Carroll said. Many of the businesses that took on an intern last year have “re-upped,” she said. Students may bring their own proposed internships to the program “as long as the site agrees to our rules and way of running the program,” Carroll said. For example, the site itself must be within 15 or 20 miles of New Canaan and must host an intern for 20 to 25 hours per week.
Those interested in learning more about the Senior Internship Program should contact Susan Carroll directly at susan.carroll@ncps-k12.org.