Cherokee Office of Economic Development

Earn While You Learn With Internships

SUBMITTED BY THE CHEROKEE OFFICE OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

The Cherokee Office of Economic Development (COED) has partnered with the Cherokee County School District to provide summer employment opportunities for rising high school juniors and seniors as part of the fourth annual Cherokee Summer Internship Program. The interactive, mentorship-based program runs from June 7 to July 16.

“The Cherokee Summer Internship Program challenges students to apply classroom knowledge to the real world,” COED President Misti Martin said. “Through this interactive experience, students are able to work one-onone with local employers, offer their unique talents to the workplace, and build lifelong skills.”

COED launched the Cherokee Summer Internship Program in spring, 2018, to cultivate local talent and raise awareness of Cherokee’s diverse, high-quality career opportunities.

The six-week program offers paid, real-world experience at Cherokee-based companies. In addition to cultivating local talent, the program helps employers give back to the community, find future talent, and make progress on special projects.

“These internships are an outstanding opportunity for our students to spend their summer break learning about careers in their community, while also earning money for their time,” Superintendent of Schools Brian V. Hightower said. “We’re so thankful to the Office of Economic Development and the participating businesses for continuing to offer this program to our students.”

Woodstock-based manufacturing company Roytec Industries has participated from the beginning. Through Roytec’s specialized training program, Roytec University, students are given personalized on-the-job training to increase productivity and learn the fundamentals of manufacturing.

“Each student intern Roytec employed through the Cherokee Summer Internship Program will attend Roytec University, which prepares them to work in several key roles of manufacturing,” Roytec Training Manager Tim May said. “This internship opens the door for continued employment during the school year through the CCSD Work-Based Learning program, and potential full-time career opportunities after graduation.”

“Being a part of the Cherokee Summer Internship Program was an amazing experience for me,” 2020 Roytec intern Annie Axelsson said. “It allowed me to take the first real steps in building my career and helped me learn so much about my dream job.”

Students accepted into the program also will receive critical soft-skills training in financial literacy, workplace safety and communications as part of orientation.

Interested students can apply and learn about available positions by visiting cherokeega.org/internship. Applicants are encouraged to check the COED website periodically for updates, as additional internships will become available over the next two months. Applications will be accepted until all positions are filled.

The Cherokee Office of Economic Development is the leading organization for business and film recruitment and industry retention and expansion. www.cherokeega.org.