News

NCHS ‘Senior Internship Program’ Seeks Host Sites [Q&A]

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New Canaan High School’s hugely popular program that places students in local and area businesses and organizations for an internship for the last few weeks of their senior year is seeking host sites. The Senior Internship Program or ‘SIP’ is set to run next May 18 to June 18. 

We connected with the SIP coordinator, Kelly Delmazio, to get some information on the program and for prospective host businesses and organizations. Here’s our exchange. ***

New Canaanite: How many students are expected to participate in this academic year’s Senior Internship Program? 

Kelly Delmazio: Just over 300 seniors. 

If the program doesn’t run until next May-June, what is the reason you are seeking to lock down host sites now? 

Although the internships don’t begin until May, we start recruiting host sites in the fall so we can have a strong variety of opportunities ready for students when they complete their applications in early December. At that point, students are able to read through the available internship opportunities and identify those that align with their interests.

Around Town

NCHS Senior Interns Continue in Town Hall Positions After Graduation

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Before starting his New Canaan High School Senior Internship in the Department of Public Works, Kevin O’Brien Brunner said he never thought about how the town ran. “I just assumed that things happened,” Brunner said on a sunny afternoon last week. “Being able to actually work here, I not only get to see what’s behind the curtain—how it actually runs—but I also get to meet the real people with real lives who are making it run,” he said. The NCHS Senior Internship Program has grown in its nine years that nearly all seniors participate in it. What’s more rare is for those college-bound teens to work the summer after graduating NCHS at their internship sites.

News

The Six Percent: What Are They Up To?

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While New Canaan High School’s senior internship program or ‘SIP’ has only been up and running for about eight years, the number of students that choose to participate has skyrocketed. But what is the 6 percent of the class of 2018 that chose to stay for their final month of high school up to? Senior Zach Miller said his older sister hadn’t done SIP and he decided to forgo it, too. Miller said he has had a more casual experience in the classroom in the past month. “Most of the time there really isn’t much to do,” Miller said.

News

Record-High 94 Percent of NCHS Seniors To Enter Internship Program

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This spring, 289 New Canaan High School seniors will participate in an increasingly popular internship program that sends the students to work for the last month of the academic year at local and area businesses and organizations. The figure represents about 94 percent of the Class of 2018—marking a high point in the history of a program that launched with just a dozen NCHS seniors in 2011. Heather Bianco, coordinator of the Senior Internship Program, attributed the rise in popularity of ‘SIP’ its many benefits for students. “It just gives them experience out of school in a work environment that they don’t get in school and a lot of them have not had a job before, so it just gives a professional environment where they can get a real-life work experience,” Bianco, who is in her second full year of overseeing the program, told NewCanaanite.com. Here’s a look at its growth (article continues below):

 

Bianco took the reins from Sue Carroll, who as coordinator of the College and Career Center at NCHS had overseen the development and first several years of SIP with help from a volunteer steering committee.

Business

83 Percent of NCHS Seniors Apply for Spring Internship Program; Host Sites Needed

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As an already popular program that places New Canaan High School seniors in local businesses for internships each spring skyrockets toward an all-time high in participation, district officials are seeking additional “host sites” to accommodate the students. Of the 333 total seniors in the NCHS class of 2017, 278 applied for the “Senior Internship Program,” up from 165 one year ago. “Because we have over 100 more kids than last year, we are looking for 100 more spots, so that is our challenge,” said Susan Carroll, coordinator of the College & Career Center at NCHS. Asked to account for the program’s rapidly rising popularity, Carroll said: “I think that it is part of the culture at New Canaan High School now. This class, because the program is eight years old, they have never not had seniors going into a senior internship program.