As graduation approaches, for many seniors, the time left to decide your career path only becomes shorter. To get an idea of what career you may want to pusue, many internships are available to high schoolers. Seniors Campbell Gann and Ashton Wooster workan internship for a technology program at STA five days a week online.
To prepare for her internship interview, Gann made a resume. Putting herself ahead of everyone was what she believed would land her the internship. “Seeing all the hard work I have put in in the past three years play out. My senior year has been hard, but also rewarding. Its carrying me on to the next chapter.”
Gann manages to balance school, an online internship, and plays for the varsity soccer team as well as the tennis team. But she was inspired to do the technology side of things from her older brother. She does a lot of coding for STA.
The tech company she works for is specifically for health care workers, and it’s known as Cerner. After setting high expectations for herself, she achieved her goals of getting the internship at Cerner. However, Gann’s favorite part of the internship is the networking. “I love meeting new people especially in these last couple of days. We have had meetings with others and getting to see everyone in the company was really cool.”
Emily Hobbs a teacher at STA, gets to help others achieve their goals. She enjoys getting to help others prepare for their interviews and getting to celebrate their success. Hobbs said the hardest part of her job was students not getting chosen for the job they worked hard for. “I usually process with them and encourage them to keep working and remind them that they didn’t get the position yet,” Hobbs said.
Similarly, Wooster wanted to get the internship as a stepping stone into college. Woosters biggest inspiration for where he is today is his sister. Wooster wanted to go to Mizzou for software engineering. He likes how the internship is like a corporate schedule and its very direct so its easier to balance. “I feel like the work I do actually means something. Its just really gratifying to see your project get released into a world wide company,” Wooster said.
It is important to Gann to support more girls joining the program. Gann has been tasked with mentoring an event for Cerner to help encourage other girls to follow what they want to do and learn more about coding. “I am trying to get girls connected into the computer science field because there isn’t a lot of women.””
Hobbs, who has known Wooster since he was in her seventh grade class, now helps him with his internship. Hobbs said, she has enjoyed watching both Gann and Wooster grow professionally. Gann knows this internship paid off because she sees her hardwork helping her get to where she wants to be.
