While some students spent their summer under the sun, others spent it hustling for money. Program supervisor Ms. Wilcox provided some Miami High students with the opportunity to work in a variety of internships during the summer of 2019. Students were assigned to work either at Miami High, Stephen Clark Government Center, The Leadership Center or in a county library.

Students had different jobs and provided help in different ways. For example, junior Alejandro Gonzalez, who worked at Stephen Clark Government Center , was responsible for taking fingerprints and making sure people had their background check cleared.  Junior Brandy Hernandez, who worked at The Leadership Center, was

responsible for helping out middle school teachers with the activities the students were to do that week. “The activities varied from building small wooden houses to melting crayons and making tie dye shirts for the whole camp,” he said.

Some students benefitted from the summer internship by earning work experience. Senior Yunior Osorio, who worked at Miami High helping out teachers, said, “I learned how to work with a team in a working environment which will benefit me in the future because I already have experience.”

Junior Yalecxa Estrada, who worked at The Leadership Center taking care of kinder-garden kids, said, “Although it was kind of stressful, this internship helped me know how to handle a real job after high school, so I dealt with it like any other adult would.”

However, not all interns had a positive view of the internship. Junior Angel Estevez, who was responsible for coaching physical education to the kids at The Leadership Center, said that most of the kids would not listen to simple directions and would sometimes drag the class.

Junior Christopher Vazquez, who also worked at The Leadership Center helping teachers look after the smaller kids, said,  “Some on the children I had to take care of often had a cold and I was afraid of catching it as well.”

Not everyone at Miami High got to work as summer interns. Supervisor Ms. Wilcox stated that the students who were chosen were from the special education program. “They also had to be reliable, punctual, and willing to work hard over the summer,” she said. For her, the best experience from this program was being able to watch the students grow as they developed job skills for the first time in their internship.

I also worked at The Leadership Center and took care of middle schoolers, some who are actually freshies this year. I was responsible for explaining activities and chaperoning them during the camp field trips. Although I had to wake up extremely early to work this past summer, the experience was more than adventurous for me. I met some amazing and lovable teachers, and I worked with some funny and outstanding students that now go to school with me.