Want to improve your office? Host a student intern!

I am an AACPS: Employee, Department of Partnerships Development & Marketing | Alum, Severna Park High School ’07

Want to improve your office? Host a student intern!

At the end of his internship with our office, Chase Russell told us, “I like being able to feel what a real world office is like and the speed of the real world… This internship has been a great experience and I’m glad to say I’m some of the few that have gotten to experience it!”

As the internship supervisor in the AACPS Department of Partnerships, Development & Marketing (PDM)—one of the many roles I serve on our team—I have had the privilege to hear similar feedback from many high school interns since our department was established in 2014. We understand the value of providing authentic workforce experience to students, but what leads us to offer this opportunity year after year is the value these students to bring to our office.

Over the past six years, the Department of PDM has hosted 10 interns from Annapolis, North County, Severna Park, South River, and Broadneck High Schools. These juniors and seniors have come from a variety of programs including STEM, Performing Visual Arts, International Baccalaureate, and Signature Programs. Some students apply because of their interest in business and marketing but others are simply looking for a professional experience and are intrigued by the opportunity to learn about AACPS from the inside. From strengthening connections between families and schools to managing translation and interpretation services to aiding grant development, the PDM Department works with the community to cultivate relationships that will benefit students, families and employees. With the dedicated support of AACPS Internship Facilitators, we have always been able to find students who are the right fit for our team.

I am astonished every semester by the work these high school students are able to accomplish. We try to tailor each internship to the interests of each student, but most interns have the chance to work on our websites, assist with county-wide events, and develop social media and/or marketing content. While we often call on our interns to support administrative tasks, many have worked on projects that have long-lasting use and impact in our office and school system. A few of our favorite internship projects include:

• Redesigning the AACPS Employee Discount website (Annie Myers, 2015),
• Rebuilding the online application for the Leadership Development Institute (Alexis Jones, 2017),
• Developing a Teacher of the Year Nominee Archive (Umar Downer, 2018), and
• Presenting a professional development session on Adobe Spark to county-wide Career & Technology Education teachers (Jocelyn Fillius, 2019).

I love watching students put their own unique spin on every project. They look at problems from an outside perspective and because they are focusing on one task at a time, they can take the time to be creative and explore new possibilities. Even when assisting with day-to-day tasks, our interns have helped us find more efficient ways to do our work.

Perhaps the biggest benefit of the AACPS Internship program, however, is that it has given us the chance to work with students. In PDM, we fully believe that everyone in the AACPS family fosters student growth but we do not always have opportunities to interact directly with students. High school kids are funny and bright and creative and savvy and as interns, we get to know them and their stories. Having them in our office reminds us why our work matters–and what we do is better because of it.