The seventh and eighth grade students at Wildflower Open Classroom Adolescent Program spent this past week interning in local businesses and organizations. These internships provide a great benefit to students as well as the internship sites and the greater Chico community. The opportunity to mentor young adolescents is exciting and helps students understand the value of community, work and their own abilities. According to the latest research on adolescent education, community involvement fulfills many of the developmental needs of adolescents. Our three main goals for our students are the following:
To Internalize Knowledge When students take information they know and apply it in a new situation, learning becomes meaningful and purposeful. This task of putting what you know into a different perspective is one of the best ways to stimulate critical thinking and foster growth in problem solving.
To Refine Communication Skills Learning to choose appropriate behavior and language according to the situation comes with a wide variety of experiences. Your setting provides a different situation to reflect upon and strengthens the student’s ability to communicate in a variety of settings.
To Enhance Self-Esteem Opportunities to contribute to society encourage students to give as well as receive from the community. This experience allows them to realize that they have many talents and skills to share with others.
The main requirement for the internships is that students are doing actual work that is meaningful for them as well as helping to benefit your organization or business. The students are not job shadowing, but actually participating in a real-life work experience.
Thank you to all the local businesses, organizations and individuals who took part in teaching our students as interns!