The Longmont Area Chamber of Commerce Education Committee and its partner, the St. Vrain Valley School District, completed the first pilot run of the student internship, a summer program that gives high school students on-the-job experience with Longmont businesses.
The student internship has been in the works for about six years, said Kathy Stevens, business director for the Longmont Chamber and liaison to the Education Committee, though it kicked off with its first intern in June. The custom graphics and signs franchisee FastSigns of Longmont hosted Niwot High School senior Aditya “Adi” Bhushan until the second week of August.
The purpose of the internship program is twofold, said Matthew Wiggins, director of community and business development for SVVSD. It's an opportunity for students to become acclimated to a professional environment before they graduate high school. It also provides Longmont firms summer assistance by hosting interns.
Through funding from the Longmont Chamber Education Fund — a partnership with the Longmont Community Foundation that supports multiple education initiatives — Chamber business members are offered a $500 incentive to be a host. Hosts are then free to use the grant as a scholarship for the intern — the internship is unpaid — or use it for other business purposes.
Interviews for the student internship pilot were conducted by Stevens and FastSigns. Stevens said it was managed like a normal job interview, adding to the “real-world” experience for the applicants.
“It was good to see the effort that the students put into their application, including resumes that they had,” she said.
Any business that’s a member of the Longmont Chamber can apply to be a host for future internship programs regardless of the industry. Though students will learn skills specific to the business sector they work in, the internship program aims at teaching soft skills.
“We really want them to be learning time management, professionalism,” Wiggins said. “Being able to talk to individuals, showing up to work on time, dressing appropriately. All the things — all the essential skills or soft skills — that you think about whenever you're getting your first job. Things that might not be specifically tied to an industry.”
Bhushan said his internship experience at FastSigns included learning the logistics of custom orders, completing tasks on deadline and working with various machines and tools such as Adobe Illustrator. He also learned about the company’s full-scale process from designing a sign to installing it, said Lauri Shropshire, business manager for FastSigns.
“I learned how to manage work orders, work without having a set schedule and communication skills that are vital in any workplace,” Bhushan added in a written response.
He added that it gave him insight into a workplace environment and is excited for his future and pursuing a career in aerospace. One reason Shropshire applied to be a host is to help students explore career opportunities before graduating high school.
“I just think providing a student this kind of an opportunity to see what it's like to work in the world, at an early age is just a great opportunity because not only does it help them to decide what direction they might want to take for their future — whether they decide they want to go to college, or they don't want to go to college. If they want to do something more on the technical side and get some trade work,” Shropshire said. “It also helps them to see what they don't want to do as well.”
Wiggins said there is a goal set to have 10 student internships by 2025. To meet that, the Education Committee and its partners plan on securing donations to the Longmont Chamber Education Fund, sharing the results of the pilot internship and recruiting businesses for next summer.
