San Rafael Students Get Inside Look at On-the-job Life

The last two years of high school can be a challenging time for teens. Besides dealing with the SAT and college applications, today more than ever many students feel increasing pressure to decide on a career path early, in hopes of getting a head start on the ever more competitive job market.

Established in 1997, the Marin County School to Career Partnership—a joint effort of the Marin County Office of Education and more than 100 local businesses and organizations—helps students get a firsthand look at work in various professions through internships, career workshops, guest speakers and other programs, according to the organization’s executive director Ken Lippi.

“Typically we have around 120 high-school students each semester participating in the internships,” Lippi said, adding that most are juniors and seniors, although occasionally a younger student can get an internship if it seems particularly appropriate.

“We’re not a job-development program or an employment-placement service,” he explained, “although it frequently happens that our interns do later get hired for part-time work [by their host companies]. Our goal is to give students the chance to see what it’s like to be in the workplace and help them explore potential career choices.”

Millie Makarewicz, the program’s liaison in the San Rafael City School District, says that around 50 or 60 students from San Rafael high schools are currently being placed for spring semester internships at a wide range of local businesses, among them Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, Madera Pet Hospital, the Marin County Sheriff’s Dept. (Youth Academy), the offices of the Marin County Public Defender and District Attorney, Marin Arts, Donna Seager Gallery, Courtyard by Marriott and the Richardson Bay Audubon Center.

According to Makarewicz, the interns aren’t kept off to the side but instead get exposure to the heart of the work done by the respective businesses. “At Kaiser, for example, student interns have worked in the departments of anesthesiology, ophthalmology, radiology and orthopedics, as well as in the emergency and intensive care units,” she said. “They learn as much as they can by shadowing doctors, nurses and lab techs, and they can, on occasion, observe surgeries.”

San Rafael High School student Christopher Love interned at Kaiser Medical Center this past fall and says his duties were varied. “Every day I would be on the computer doing something. I would be filing electronically to doctors’ files, copying, and if I were lucky I would be allowed to follow the doctors around.”

In addition, Love notes that his internship had an unexpected side benefit. “I greatly improved my communication skills from having conversations with the patients,” he said.

In summing up his time at Kaiser, Love said the internship fit his future perfectly. “It was in the field that I want to go into and I had a great experience, which makes it even better,” he sxplained. “This internship showed me more than what I was asking for.”

Not only that, but Love says Kaiser even offered him a job. He took them up on their offer and is now looking forward to working there as a unit assistant when he turns 18, in a few weeks.

The internships have frequently led to employment in the same field later in life, according to Makarewicz. “There are numerous success stories,” she said. “I've heard back from several students who went into law enforcement after attending the Sheriff's Academy. A student who did her original internship in an insurance office became a part-time employee there while going to College of Marin. She was studying for her insurance license. Another intern went to COM to study automotive technology and became a full-time employee at an auto shop. And one student who had been placed as a technology intern went on to MIT with a full ride.”

As for the arts world, Makarewicz says one upcoming internship is being sponsored by the California Film Institute. “The student intern will be working at the Oscar Night America event at the Rafael Film Center on February 27th,” she says.

Who knows? Will we see that intern’s name up on the silver screen one day?

For more information on the internships and other programs of the Marin County School to Career Partnership, visit stc.marinschools.org or call (415) 499-5865.