Lawrence North High School launched a pilot internship program last year that allows Spanish learners to gain hands-on work experience and practice their language skills. The program proved successful and was not only repeated for a second year, but the number of students participating has also increased.
Carolyn Gassmann Moen is the head of the world languages department and a Spanish immersion teacher at Lawrence North. She said she designed the program for the 2023-24 school year as a capstone experience for students who have completed the Metropolitan School District of Lawrence Township’s Spanish immersion program, which begins at the elementary school level.
“The goal of the (immersion) program is for them to be fully bilingual by the time they graduate,” Moen said. “This (internship) is for seniors in the program who have been in the immersion program for 12 years – native Spanish and English speakers, a mix of kids. And the goal is to bring them into our community and use the Spanish they learned during their time in the program to really serve the community that they grew up in.”
Moen said that in the first year, 20 students used their Spanish skills in unpaid internships in various locations. Some worked at MSDLT schools, helping in classrooms or in the secretariat.
“I had other kids that went to a health clinic and did a lot of translating for patients,” she said. “I had other kids – one of them went to an engineering firm. He went to American Structurepoint and was recognized by them as a really good intern and was able to make it to the finalists for the National American Structurepoint Engineering Fellowship.”
Another student interned in the Lawrence mayor’s office, she said, helping translate documents and provide Spanish language services during Winterfest and the farmers market. A student who interned in the Sunnyside Elementary School office was offered a paid position.
“They wanted us to accommodate his schedule so he could work with them all day because he was doing such a great job,” she said. “It was really, really successful our first year.”
Moen said the internship program has about 30 students this year and she has worked hard to place them in businesses throughout the community. She said there is a demand for workers with Spanish skills.
“When I contact these companies, many of them respond within the next hour, ‘Absolutely, we would love to host some of your students,'” she said. “It’s really cool to see how excited they are to have Spanish speakers in their work environment.”
Participants in the program work as interns for about two hours every other day, depending on their schedule. Moen said before they head off to their assigned jobs, they spend about a month in the classroom learning how to become a valuable employee.
“We started the year with some personality tests, but also by writing their personal mission statement – what their mission is as a future employee,” she said. “So we get them to see who they are (and) then also see themselves as professionals before they start their work.”
In December, the semester-long course concludes with the creation of a resume that can be used to apply for scholarships, colleges or jobs.
Moen said it’s great to see her students enthusiastically use their skills in an area of interest and how the experience builds their confidence.
“Of course they’ve been studying Spanish all these years, but a lot of them just feel like they don’t know Spanish,” she said. “Now they’re in a work environment where they have to use it, and they came back to me a week or two after starting their internship last year (and said), ‘Oh my God, I know so much more Spanish than I thought.’ I said, ‘See, I told you so.’ So as a teacher, it’s gratifying to say, ‘You finally have the confidence that we’ve been trying to give you for the last few years. And you’ve done it; you can do it.'”
The success of the intern program means it will most likely continue beyond the 2024-25 school year. Moen said the goal is for all high school seniors who have completed the district’s Spanish immersion program to participate in the intern course.
Companies interested in hosting an intern from the program who is learning Spanish as a second language can contact Moen at (email protected).
