Youth Public Engagement Internship Program

Michigan Nightlight: Tell us briefly about your program in terms of its purpose and who it serves.
HandsOn Battle Creek Service-Learning and Youth Program Manager Abby Buckley: HandsOn Battle Creek designed its Youth Public Engagement Internship Program to provide a select group of Battle Creek high school students, aged 16 and up, with meaningful job shadowing-styled experiences, working at job sites that offer them training in the fields that they are interested in pursuing after graduation.   
 
We have 12 interns right now, representing most of the area’s public and private schools – including Battle Creek Central, Lakeview, Harper Creek,and St. Philip Catholic Central high schools. Home-schooled students are encouraged to apply. Each of our interns work for 10 hours each week at different, but mostly nonprofit, job sites that allow them to develop the soft skills training that they’ll need for future careers and to be systematically engaged in the work with enthusiastic hosts who value their thoughts, opinions and voices.

...we strive to provide experiences where student input is valued and actively practiced. Because we believe so strongly in youth empowerment, we make every effort to collaborate only with host site agencies that value that too.

 
What really differentiates this program?
Students who complete all of the Youth Public Engagement Internship Program requirements -- attending the monthly meetings and showing up for all of their weekly work sessions -- are rewarded with a $1,000 scholarship toward higher education or training programs beyond high school. We currently have a 100 percent success rate. I think that is remarkable.
 
We are extremely selective. As many as 70 applicants apply per semester and only a few are chosen for the Youth Public Engagement Internship Program. Unlike some programs, criteria isn’t based on a 4.0 grade point average; selection is based on an essay explaining why that student feels he/she should be involved actively in the community and selected for a internship. We see students step out of their comfort zones to bring some fresh perspective to each partnering agency. It is much more than a job-shadowing experience, which is something that was once void in our community, and, thankfully, has been warmly received.
 
One student is working at a day care center right now, because she wants to open her own someday. Another works for the Calhoun County Health Department because of her interest in public health.
 
What are the keys to success for your program?
We strongly encourage our partnering agencies to actively incorporate students into their core functions. While simple tasks like filing papers, making copies, and producing mailings can be a small piece of that, we strive to provide experiences where student input is valued and actively practiced. Because we believe so strongly in youth empowerment, we make every

...I've become more open to tailoring the program to fit both the agency and student needs, and because of that we've seen a greater number of success stories emerge from the program.

effort to collaborate only with host site agencies that value that too.
 
We have seen students accomplishing some tremendous things from their experiences at work sites. Two of our interns organized and delivered a large-scale volunteer event for youth in the community. Another student worked with her assigned agency to organize a peaceful march in opposition to an event that occurred nationally that sparked some intense conversations around race and racial equity.
 
It does take a little bit of time and energy to work with youth. We are fortunate to have agencies that understand the value of the youth voice and the youth empowerment that making the program successful.
 
What existing challenges remain with this program and how do you plan to overcome them?
Each semester we have to take a close look at our budget and funding to evaluate how many students we can accommodate within the program. While we have been fortunate enough to receive funding from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation in the past, we have tried to push the program to be a self-sustainable function within the community. To do that, we’ve encouraged partnering agencies to cover the cost of the scholarship for the interns. We recognize that many agencies are faced with shrinking budgets and cannot always accommodate the full cost of a scholarship.
 
Since HandsOn Battle Creek values the experiences above all else, if agencies are able to provide meaningful experiences but cannot pay to participate, we will often cover the cost of the scholarship for them.
 
What was the best lesson learned in the past year?
I think that more so in the last year than any other, I’ve become much more flexible with the
program. What has worked well during one semester may have to be slightly adjusted to work well for the following semester. I think that as long as the intent of the program is kept at its core, I’ve become more open to tailoring the program to fit both the agency and student needs, and because of that we’ve seen a greater number of success stories emerge from the program.
 
What was the hardest lesson learned in the past year?
We go into every semester with the best intentions to provide the most valuable experiences for youth in order for them to thrive and succeed. While we have mostly witnessed successful experiences, not every student is a good match for the program. In the same breath, not every agency is the right fit for the program either. Some agencies just do not have the capacity to devote the energy and resources that are necessary to participate as a host site.
 
In that case, we work with the student and the work site to come up with a plan to reverse this. We ask the student why it isn’t working as well as the agency and help to develop a plan to improve conditions so that each student receives a meaningful work experience. It almost always works. Like I said, we have a 100 percent success rate.