Summer Internship Program
General Information About the Career Academy Summer Internship Program
Summer Internship PowerPoint
An important aspect of the St. Johns County Career Academy programs is the opportunity to complete a summer internship that relates to the specific Career Academy focus. These internships are offered to interested students after their junior year of high school. This page offers information to benefit the students applying for internships, those already in internships and to the businesses who offer the internships.
We extend our appreciation to the 186 students who interned at 56 different businesses in St. Johns and the surrounding counties during Summer 2023!
A successful Career Academy work experience’s benefits to students:
- Allows students to apply classroom instruction and specific skills in a work environment
- Exposes students to broad, relevant, enriching educational experiences in business
- Allows students to observe and use current workplace practices and technologies
- Enhances students’ core workplace skills: teamwork, decorum, ethics, time management, problem solving, written and oral communications skills, etc.
- Provides the student with a valuable foundation for any future career
The benefits to the businesses:
- Encourages youth to pursue careers in fields related to their academy focus
- Enables businesses to cultivate their potential future employees
Internship Program Details
- Current high school juniors will be selected from a Career Academy related to the host business.
- To be selected, students must apply for an internship experience, complete Career Skills training, prepare a resumé, and be interviewed and selected by the prospective business partner.
- Students will intern 20 hours per week. (Other times can be arranged, if business or student needs require it)
- Businesses may offer students a paid position at minimum wage or better. For a paid internship, students become temporary employees of the business. As such, in the event of a work-related accident, students will be covered under the business’s Workers’ Compensation Insurance.
- Otherwise, these students understand that these internships are unpaid.
- When students are not paid by the business, a work-related accident will be covered by the student’s family health insurance policy and/or student accident insurance.
- According to the Department of Labor, for internships to be unpaid, the tasks must expose students to a variety of tasks at the business site and not be for a sufficient number of hours to replace a paid employee.
Responsibilities of the Intern Host
- Complete the Business Partner Internship Intent Form and return it to the Career & Technical Education Department any time before March 1, 2024.
- Interview the student applicants at an agreed upon time and location that the schools will arrange with you.
- Once the selection has been made, schedule a time for the student to come to your business before the end of May to complete the Intern Orientation Form, so they will know what to expect during the internship.
- Develop the summer work experience tasks for the student, provide training and then monitor their work performance.
- Submit a short Student Timesheet/Evaluation at the end of each week.
- By August 1st, review the student’s PowerPoint before they submit it to the Career & Technical Education Department to be sure the information is accurate and does not share confidential information. This will require that the student takes some photos of themselves doing various internship tasks. The student will then email the PowerPoint to the Career & Technical Education Department.
- Complete a survey at the end of the internship to help us improve the program in future years.
School District Contact
The Career & Technical Education Department has ultimate oversight of the Career Academy Internship Program, though it is a team effort during the school year with the school Career Specialists leading the business site development and the student application and training process.
Once the students have been placed into internship sites, the Career & Technical Education Department takes over until the internship concludes at the end of the summer.
When in doubt of whom to call, feel free to call the Career & Technical Education Department at (904) 547-4872 or by email at [email protected]
