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Parents, Educators/Teachers & Students in Action

July 15, 2021
BETTER BUSY THAN BORED
PESA puts teens to work in summer internship program
If idle hands are the devil’s workshop, ol’ Beelzebub must be in a lather over PESA right now, because we recently put 63 high school students through their paces in an action-packed, paid summer internship program. 

Partnering with Los Angeles Unified School District and its Youth Employment and Linked Learning programs, PESA created a work-based learning experience whose aim was to enhance young people’s employability skills and improve their eventual chances for success in the working world.

“We provided students with an opportunity to build their professional and financial literacy skills as well as learn more about a variety of career opportunities, particularly in the legal field,” says PESA Assistant Director of Internships Amanda Flores, who took the lead on the program. “We worked to facilitate an environment for students to develop and build upon in-demand transferable skills such as a strong work ethic and communication expertise that are of real value in the workplace. No matter what profession each student chooses in the future, it’s important to practice these skills beyond the classroom around professionals in a given field to simulate a real work environment.” 

No easy, phone-it-in experience, interns were required to work two to six hours a day, five days per week for seven weeks. Each day had themed interactive instruction:

  • Mindful Mondays: Focusing on emotional development, interns heard presentations from PESA social workers on topics such as Normalizing Feelings, Resolving Conflicts and more.

  • Transitional Tuesdays: Personal development was the focus here, with presentations on topics such as college readiness, higher education, future employment and career-path options. 

  • World of Work Wednesdays: Students learned how to put together a resume and write cover letters.

  • Thinking-Forward Thursdays: Focusing on professional development, presenters from our Distinguished Speakers series shared insights on employment ranging from organizational psychology to auto mechanics.

  • For our Community Fridays: Interns were tasked with assignments aimed at bettering the community, such as contacting individuals and sharing information about the COVID-19 vaccine in order to help boost the number of vaccinated people in Los Angeles County.

Why is a program like this so important? According to LAUSD, students in Linked Learning programs:

  • Have higher graduation/diploma rates than other students and are less likely to drop out of high school.

  • Earned more credits during high school than non-participating students.

  • Have higher GPAs than non-participating students.

  • Are more likely to go to a 4-year university.

Helping students prepare for the next phase in their education and working lives, all while they’re learning about PESA and the positive effects of community service? Sounds like a win-win to us!