Summer internships at Granite Bay High School help students decide what career pathway they want to go into in the future and expose them to an area of interest in the workforce.

   Teri Keeney, the GBHS college and career center director, encourages students to take on either a paid job or internship this summer, especially upperclassmen that are exploring possible future careers.

    “It gives you work experience, it gives you an insight into if it’s a career path that you want to take or you don’t want to take. An internship opens up your eyes to different opportunities and different skills that you can use in college and in the workforce,” Keeney said.

   GBHS junior Ryan Cochran is interning at the placer county public defender’s office over the summer and is looking forward to experiencing work in a law firm before his senior year.

   “I think this internship will help me because I am interested in becoming a lawyer when I’m older and this is an opportunity for me to be exposed to a certain type of law and to see if I like it,” Cochran said.

   He found the intern position from a neighbor that works at the public defender’s office, and suggests that other students go out and talk to others with experience when searching for opportunities.

   “To those who are looking for internships, I would recommend talking to people with similar interests as you because I think the best way to hear about an internship is through people who have done it before,” Cochran said.

   Junior Kara Kleinbach also found an intern position for the summer from asking her mom and friends about any possible openings.

   Kleinbach has a paid internship at Sagent Marketing in Sacramento, and will be working there for almost two months of her summer. 

    “I decided to do this internship because I thought it would be a really great opportunity and I’ve always been interested in business and marketing,” said Kleinbach. “I would recommend, if you have some type of internship that you really want to do, to ask your parents, your friend’s parents, if they have any connections that could help you out.”

   With an intent of majoring in business or marketing at a university, Kleinbach wanted to see what that career pathway would be like firsthand before she applies to colleges her senior year. 

   “I think that it’s going to give me some experience with marketing going into college and help me find exactly what I want to do during college and after,” Kleinbach said.

   Aside from what internships expose students to before deciding their major and college, they can also contribute to work experience listed in college applications.

  “It is important that students work over the summer because it’s good for colleges to see that you are involved in something outside of academics, and that you can hold a job and you’re responsible,” Keeney said.

   Finding an internship position some time in your high school career, paid or not, can provide you with connections and skills that many usual paid jobs can not.

   “Over the summer I want to spend my time doing something that is more focused on my future career, instead of ringing people up at a cash register,” Kleinbach said.