September & October Adventrues

We've now been in our internships for over a month and have plenty to share with you, from wearing firefighter gear to hanging out with office pets our interns are continuing to learn valuable work experience. I have to brag on our intern mentors because not only have they taken a high school senior into their work space, but they're helping our interns feel like they're one of the employees as well.

If you haven't had the chance to follow our Facebook page, you should do so! Our students along with myself share images and stories of what's happening in their internships, but also things that are taking place in the classroom. We recently had two interns Trevor and Parker who were interviewed by our district social media specialist, so stay tuned for a great highlight!

We've finally locked down two presentation evenings that we'd like to invite the public to. Our interns will each give a 15 minute presentation over their experiences this semester at their internship. Those two dates are Monday, December 18th and Wednesday, December 20th. Our presentations will start roughly around 6:30 or 7:00 p.m. so we'll keep you up to date!

Here's a link to our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/AndaleHS1/

-From the AHS Intern Classroom, Mrs. Bergkamp

Second Year and Another New Beginning

Now that our interns have settled in to their routines of their internship, I want to take some time to share with you the great things that are going on within our program as we begin our second year. This year we have a total of 19 intern students, only 3 of the 19 interns I did not have in Junior Explore so it's been a great experience to pick up right where we left off in the Spring in Junior Explore. Last fall of course, was our first year of our program. We were highly successful, but just like anything new there are things to iron out that you don't think about at the initial start. Our interns last fall did a tremendous job representing our program, and we even had four interns who landed job offers at the end of the semester!

As we look to begin a new year and have 19 new intern faces we've now began the process of getting into a routine at our internship location and building a professional relationship with their mentors. As I've spent countless hours on the phone and over email, setting up internships, every second is worth it when our interns come back to the classroom on Friday with all kinds of stories, new knowledge, and time spent outside the classroom in a true profession! Our interns enjoy being treated as a working adult and getting a TRUE glimpse of what the workplace is like rather than just a one day job shadow.

Of course this internship program would not be possible without our intern mentors from local and surrounding area businesses. Our mentors and internship sites spend over 80 hours through the fall semester with our interns helping them understand and providing them with meaningful tasks. Without them this program would not be existent! Below I have incorporated our internship sites so please take the time to thank them for their generosity to the students of Andale High School and the Renwick School District!

Internship Placements

Textron Aviation x 2
GLMV Architecture
Kansas Joint & Spine Specialist
Dr. Rosen - Pediatric Oncology
Children's Dental Professionals LLC
Michael Reno DDS
Great Plains Nature Center
Cassandra Bryan Design
Cancer Center of Kansas
Goddard Police Department
Sedgwick Co. - Goddard Fire Department
Ranson Financial Consultants LLC
Primary Medical Associates
YMCA - Marketing
The Law Company
Kansas Custom Carpentry LLC. - Lance Marx
Wichita State University Marketing
Advanced Physical Therapy
Mid-America Orthopedics
Ridgewood Surgrey Center
Kansas Surgery Center

Front-Row (left to right): Maddie Cress, Abby Smarsh, Laci Hoss, Taylor Smith, Kennedy Camp, Lexi Becker, Sophia Easter, Lauren Koehler, Caitlin Henry.
Back-Row (left to right): Jeremy Jansen, Caleb Blasi, Collin Pavlacka, Logan Nemechek, Parker Bruce, Arlen Cooley, Jonah Rowland, Jacob Peltzer, Hunter Stuber, Trevor Meyer