Inter-ing The Workforce

Some students at BVN participate in internships. How does this benefit their future?

By Anjali Kambhampati

Students often strive to participate in activities that will benefit their aspirations. High school, for many students, is an effort to do the best they can to stand apart from others. For this reason and many more, students enroll in internships to gain more experience in their fields of interest.

Internships are temporary jobs that ideally benefit one’s career interests. There are also many different types of internships that will assist students in their career of choice, ranging from educational to medical. Entrepreneurship and medicine are two types of internships that senior Rima Chavali has participated in. According to Chavali, in the past few years, students have faced more obstacles when it comes to getting involved in internships.

“A lot of [internships] were virtual because of COVID, so a lot more virtual opportunities opened up. I found [internship opportunities] through school and upperclassmen,” Chavali said.

Despite COVID-19 being an obstacle for students participating in internships, Chavali said that her work environments were engaging.

“Even though we had that virtual barrier, people were so interested in getting youth across the Kansas City Metro together and innovating in a time when we couldn’t really do anything else,” Chavali said. “I thought it was pretty wellconnected and it gave me something to do when we were in isolation.”

Chavali also stated that internships have benefitted her plans for the future.

“[Internships] don’t necessarily give me an exact idea of what the workforce would look like, but [it’s] definitely as close as a high schooler could get [to the experience] despite the young age,” Chavali said.

Real-world experience isn’t always something high school students have the chance to experience, according to Chavali. She also expressed that if students aren’t pushing themselves to go out of their comfort zones and see what’s out there, then it’s harder to make a decision about what to study in college.

“I would definitely recommend internships, and even if you decide you hate the internship once you have it, at least you had the experience so you know what you won’t like in the future,” Chavali said.

Another student at BVN who has experience with interning is senior Joe Thummel. Thummel participated in an internship during the summer of 2022 at Community America Credit Union, a financial institution based in Kansas City. When it comes to the experience gained from internships, Thummel said that his internship gave him a taste of what a fullfledged job might be like.

“Internships help you decide whether that’s [career choice] something you would want to do, or if you would want to go into a more creative field and do something else. It gives you a taste of what work would look like in a professional environment,” Thummel said.

Internships come with many obstacles, especially for high school students with busy lives.

“The obstacles depend on your internship, but your bosses can definitely be tough on you,” Thummel said.

“They definitely treat you like adults sometimes and give you very strict deadlines, and even if you have problems or things that come up, they’re not as sympathetic as a teacher might be. You have to make sure that you’re planning your time wisely.”

Despite the struggles, Thummel explained that internships are both valuable and fun.

“They are good for resumes and your own personal experience. I would 100% recommend internships.”