A CIS student at work for a local business.
Sometimes doing business isn’t about that business’ future. At our place — Alabama Graphics — every Tuesday, part of business is about Derrick Mosley’s future.
Derrick goes to Holy Family Cristo Rey high school. It’s private, it’s pricey, and it’s got an inventive, insightful curriculum called the Corporate Internship Program. A business pays a student’s school fees, and a student works one full day a week at that business throughout the school year. For the other four days, that student spends it in school per normal.
We love this program. It helps keep kids in school by getting them out of it. Plus Alabama Graphics gets to give a kid a chance at a stellar education that their family would not otherwise be able to afford. And we get to introduce young adults to our industry and what it means to work a full day and get that buzz of achievement outside of the classroom.
Our last intern stayed with us for two years. Now we have Derrick this year, and he’s jumped in with both feet. He’s talking about being an engineer. We really love that, considering so many of our favorite customers are engineers.
We plan to expose Derrick to all kinds of jobs and skills, from phone etiquette to building a sales relationship to setting up jobs on the presses. And we hope by the end of the school year, he discovers some of his strengths and weaknesses and just maybe a new passion that can lead to a new career. If nothing else, maybe all that hard-earned textbook knowledge will be understood as a useful resource that leads to fulfilling jobs in the future.
If you or your business is interested in participating in this clever internship program, click here or give us a call. We’d love to share.