Student Internship Program

Spring 2008 Syllabus

Mrs. Diana Kirtley, Coordinator
Room B-306
Telephone Number: 240-497-6328
Email

What is an Internship?
A student internship is an unpaid, career-focused experience during which students become directly involved in the workplace. This experience provides an opportunity for a student to apply the skills obtained in school to real work situations and to learn additional skills. An internship will also help students to define career goals.

Program Goals. At the end of the semester, students should be able to:
          • Identify a career cluster of interest
          • Learn the requirements and characteristics of selected careers
          • Determine whether a career is compatible with interests, values, skills, and aptitudes
          • Apply academic knowledge to practical situations
          • Learn additional skills
          • Write correct, timely thank you letters
          • Set priorities, plan use of time, adhere to a schedule
          • Develop effective interpersonal skills with workers and supervisors
          • Develop important work habits such as promptness, reliability and accuracy
          • Make the transition from school to post-secondary education and career

Minimum Requirements:
In order to earn credit for internship, students must work a minimum number of hours, as follows:
            3 period interns             225 hours/semester = 15 hours per week
            2 period interns             150 hours/semester = 10 hours per week
            1 period interns               75 hours/semester =   5 hours per week

The hours may be arranged to suit the convenience of the supervisor and student. Hours will be given for classroom participation during the first two days of school and the two monthly seminars thereafter. Seminar attendance is mandatory unless cleared by Mrs. Kirtley in advance. Students are also responsible for notifying their supervisor well in advance of the scheduled seminar dates and to rearrange their work schedule accordingly.

ASSESSMENT
Quarter 3:

Reporting regularly to an internship & completing assigned tasks/duties	300 points
Attaining half the required semester hours	100 points
Weekly emails:     January (1 required)                           February (4 required)                               March (3 required)	25 points 100 points   75 points
Response to seminars (via email, one per month)  Feb.                                                                            Mar.	30 points   30 points
Resume, revised (due February 20)	100 points
Your supervisor's evaluation of you (due April 1)	100 points
SPECIAL PROJECT: a research report           See instructions on next page* (due March 19)	100 points
TOTAL POINTS:	960 points

Quarter 4:

INSTRUCTIONS FOR SPECIAL PROJECTS

*Research report – Due March 19
Collect some information from THREE different sources about the company, agency, or industry in which you are working. Write up your findings in a 2 – 3 page paper, being careful to cite your sources, whether they are from web sites, company brochures, annual reports, or individual people you have interviewed. Use parenthetical documentation and a WORKS CITED PAGE.

For example, if you are working for a bank, you could write a paper about the bank, its history, current operation, and plans for the future. Here are some questions you could ask. I’m sure you can think of others:

When did the bank begin? Who started it? How much has it grown since then?
How many employees does it have?
What are the various departments in the bank?
What do you have to do to get a job at the bank?
Are there training programs for employees?
Who are its most serious competitors?
Who are some of its biggest clients?

OR, you could choose to write about the banking industry as a whole. Here are some questions you could ask. Again, I’m sure you will think of others:

What was the first bank in this country? Where and when did it exist? Is it still in business?
Who are the major players in the banking world today?
Are there different types of banks? Do some specialize in certain things? If so,
What are they?
Are some banks publicly owned? In other words, can you buy stock in banks?
What are some of the publicly owned companies?
Is there a banking association to which all banks belong? What does it do?

***Visual Presentation – due May 5
Prepare a 5 – 7 minute presentation about your internship to be given to the other interns. Be sure that you have a visual. PowerPoint presentations are encouraged, but any type of LARGE visual will be suitable. In the presentation, explain something about the nature of your internship and the company/agency/school for which you work. Focus on the single most important thing you feel you have learned from your experience. Be as specific as possible.

All interns should be prepared to be in attendance at least two days during the week of May 5 (and 12, if necessary) so that each presenter will have a supportive audience and so that each intern will get to hear a variety of presentations.

Rules and General Information for Success in Internship:

1. ATTENDANCE. Interns are expected to report on time to the Internship Office and to SIGN OUT EVERY DAY as they leave the building. In fact, you MUST leave the building. If you wish to stay for any reason, you will need a pass from me. The daily sign-out sheet is located in the Internship Office, and it serves as the record from which I enter your class attendance into the computer. Don’t forget to sign out when you are in the office! Always take time to check the office white board for important messages or for your name should I need to speak with you after sign out is finished.

Remember that you are required to earn half your total semester hours each quarter. For example, if your semester hour requirement is 150 hours, you must earn 75 hours during both Quarter 3 and Quarter 4. You may not, for example, earn 100 hours during Quarter 3 and expect to earn the remaining 50 hours in Quarter 4. Sponsors in the business world depend on and deserve your regular attendance.

Remember to notify your sponsor ASAP if you are unable to report on a regularly scheduled workday. For example, notify the sponsor the week before a scheduled Internship Seminar and work with the sponsor to rearrange your schedule for the Seminar date. This courtesy should apply to any absence that you know of in advance. I am in frequent contact with all sponsors through my sponsor email list, and usually notify them of seminars, school holidays, and other helpful information; however, it is ultimately YOUR responsibility to notify your sponsor of schedule changes. If you are ill or unable to report to work for any other unexpected reason, call both the sponsor and me ASAP to let us know. It is a good idea to always carry your sponsor’s business card with you so that you have the business phone number available; alternatively, program the number into your cell phone address book.

2. TIMESHEETS AND NEW PROCEDURES. Each week begins with your picking up a new timesheet when you sign in with me in B-306. Timesheets are predated and vary by color. You are required to keep an accurate weekly timesheet, noting dates and hours worked at your internship. At the end of each workweek, you must record the days and hours you have worked for that week only, submit the timesheet to your supervisor for verification and for his/her signature. The timesheet is then dropped off in the completed timesheet basket in the Internship Office the following Monday. Timesheets must be submitted weekly or at the very latest, biweekly for credit. Any suspected discrepancies with timesheet information (for example: falsifying dates or hours worked, sponsor signatures, etc.) will result in a meeting with your sponsor and the real possibility of expulsion from the Internship Program.

3. EMAIL MESSAGES. Each intern is required to send me a brief email message EVERY WEEK. Each email must contain the intern’s name, the dates for the week, and the number of the email; for example: Jane Doe, Email #1, April 3 – 7. The message need not be long – TWO PARAGRAPHS will do in most cases – but it should contain specific information about some aspect of your internship OR about the search for an internship. See the next page for suggestions. I expect to receive email messages written in standard, grammatically correct English that would be acceptable in a business setting. My response to your email is verification that it was received and recorded in my folder. I would strongly urge you to save copies of all email messages sent to me in case some of them get dropped from my folder. If you do not have an email account, you may attach this information on your weekly timesheet. Your email address must be professional for this class; no “cute” addresses will earn you respect in the business community. Please create a new account for this class if needed. I urge strongly each of you to establish a working account; I frequently depend on sending important information to you via email.

Email messages are not only a significant portion of your Internship grade; they also allow us to stay in touch with each other. It is very important that you get in the habit of sending me a message EVERY WEEK. It is a good idea to write me the email on the same day in the same place so that you do not forget! Remember, you will know if your messages get through to me because I respond to each and every one. If you do not turn in an email during a given week, know that I will still expect to see it in your portfolio, but that I cannot give you retroactive homework credit for it.

Any topic related to the search for an internship or the internship itself is suitable to discuss in your weekly emails. Some suggestions include:

Describe one of the strategies you (or I) have used to find you an internship.
Describe the interview. What went well? What wasn’t so good? What would you do differently next time?
What expectations do you have for your internship? Are you looking forward to it? Are you a little nervous about it?
Describe the first day (or any other day) on the job.
Describe a problem or challenge you have encountered on the job and how it was handled.
Tell me about what you are doing.
Tell me about a person you have met on the job.
Describe a skill you have learned or would like to learn.
Describe something funny that happened.
Describe something frustrating that happened.
What is best about this job?
What do you like least?
Describe the language in the workplace. Have you learned some new words that are unique to this business?
What have you observed about the dress code in this business?
What have you learned about the business so far? How long has it been there?
Who founded it? How many people work there?