Melanie Rocio Arias during her internship at Blue Ridge Power. Photo courtesy of CAYLA
By Emma Castleberry
While internships are usually associated with college, there are multiple programs in our area that are designed to help high school students prepare for the workforce. Two of the most robust are the Goodwill OneLife program and the City of Asheville Youth Leadership Academy (CAYLA).
CAYLA is a competitive internship program offered to students in Asheville City Schools and Buncombe County Schools. Interns are paid to work at a local partner business for 16 hours per week and they participate in weekly workshops focused on financial literacy, leadership development and entrepreneurship. They also receive year-long academic support during their senior year, including college preparation research and a $2,000 scholarship.
Students apply through the City of Asheville website and are then interviewed by a panel of community members and past CAYLA alumni. If selected, the workforce development coordinator helps the students find internship matches in one of three career paths offered by the program.
“It allows students to narrow down their career choices, get out of their comfort zones and experience firsthand what happens in the workplace,” says City of Asheville workforce development coordinator Promise Boseman.
Through the OneLife program at Goodwill of Northwest North Carolina, students in Buncombe County Schools are provided with in-school personal and professional development training as well as the opportunity to intern at a local business. Goodwill pays the intern, so the service is free to the business owner, and the student gains valuable insight into an industry of their choice. “The whole idea is helping students figure out what they want to pursue,” says program coordinator Mark Roberts.
Sarah Grace participated in the Goodwill OneLife program, interning at 103.3 Asheville FM when she was a sophomore at TC Roberson High School. Grace gained experience with a variety of editing programs and techniques, conducted interviews on the radio and played music for the station. She also appreciated the in-school training offered as part of the program. “All of the content they talked about was unique and important,” she says, “especially for young adults: learning about leadership, emotional intelligence, discovering your passions, how to plan for your future, managing money—really important things that are left out of the education system.”
Last year, the Goodwill OneLife program had more than 80 community partners that offered internships to students, including multidisciplinary visual artist Julieta Fumberg. Fumberg’s most recent intern worked with her in the office three times a week for a few hours at a time, mostly doing administrative tasks but also learning how Fumberg completed commissions and sales. “As much as they are coming in to work, they are coming in to learn,” says Fumberg. “Balancing both is the goal.”
Many students in the OneLife program are hired on after their internships. “So the businesses sometimes find valuable employees from it,” says Mark. “This connects our students to the community and gives them a headstart on building confidence in a career they want to go for.”
To learn more about volunteering as a mentoring business or participating as a student, visit GoodwillWNC.org and AshevilleNC.org.
