When Cherry Hill West High School senior Kaitlyn Bianco dons blue scrubs for her internship, she travels less than 500 feet from her school to her part-time duties.
Bianco, 17, who after graduation will head to East Stroudsburg University in Pennsylvania to major in nursing, is interning in health care at Jefferson Cherry Hill Hospital on Chapel Avenue.
Although both of Bianco's parents are in health care and her nursing aspirations started as a little girl, the experience at Jefferson has been a revelation.
"There are a lot of things in the background that on the surface you wouldn't see when you walk into the hospital," Bianco told 70and73.com in an interview. She rotated through the hospital departments, including the pharmacy and labs that work behind the scenes. The internship also focused her nursing goals: "I really love bedside," she said.
Bianco is one of the interns competitively selected from students at West and Cherry Hill East for the program, working a minimum of five hours a week, at one of 13 employers in the Cherry Hill area.
"All of our partners work really hard at making sure the kids get an excellent professional experience," said Sondra Castellani, a West science teacher and the Cherry Hill school district's intern coordinator.Â
Success with an internship, which can include both work and shadowing employees, can be measured in two ways, Castellani said.
It's a success if the student learns about the professional world and has a better idea of their career choices.
And Castellani also counts it as successful if the student completes the internship and finds after exposure that what was a career choice no longer is a choice.
"Helping them find their path, that's what we want to do," she said.
Making the internship authentic
Jefferson Hospital is in its fourth year with Cherry Hill's internship program and this year is hosting 11 students, said Jennifer Knopple, a Jefferson human resources business partner.
"The students are amazing. ...They're so mature. They're so engaged," Knopple told 70and73.com in an interview.
Jefferson conducts interviews with internship applicants every April and students intern from September through March. Program coordinator Castellani said a senior's schedule fills up as graduation nears, so the program ends in March.
Student interns at Jefferson observe surgeries and work with patients, Knopple said, noting that the hospital tries to make the experience as authentic as possible.
"They'll get as close as they possibly can," she said.
One intern thought she wanted to be a nurse but by the end of the internship decided that work in the lab would be a better career choice, Knopple recalled.
Not all are headed toward health care careers. One student interning wants to be a carpenter like his father and is working with the hospital's facilities department, she said. The student is getting hands-on experience helping to replace outlets, light fixtures and other electrical work.
Knopple said the Jefferson system is so pleased with the Cherry Hill intern experience that it is talking with Washington Township High School about taking interns at its Jefferson Washington Township Hospital.
Not all applicants are selected
Castellani said not every student who wants an internship gets one.
Students must be in good academic standing, have a clean behavior record and solid attendance.
"The (internship) partners raise eyebrows if they don't have good attendance," she said.
She started the program at West and this year it was rolled out at East. "The school board wants all kids to have this opportunity," Castellani said.
She said current Cherry Hill Superintendent Kwame Morton formerly was principal at West and was a leading proponent of the internship program.
Cherry Hill schools also takes on its own interns: Students who think they want to be teachers can intern in the district's classrooms from kindergarten through fifth grade.
For some, a direct job path
Other internships cover law enforcement (with the Cherry Hill Police Department), information technology, art, marketing and public relations.
Castellani said her goal also is to add in more internships with the trades, such as the West senior who is working with electricians at Jefferson Hospital.
Some student interns have found part-time jobs with their hosts after their internships ended.
One woman interned with a local engineering firm and has been an employee there for about six years, Castellani said.Â
