School Year Internship Program
Helping students to earn money and build professional skills throughout the academic year
Our School-Year Internship Program places Waltham High School students in paid internships running from October through May. Interns work an average of five hours per week. We are particularly invested in strengthening and diversifying the educator and mental health/healthcare workforces of the future.
Educators of Tomorrow
The goal of our Educators of Tomorrow initiative is to strengthen and diversify the educator pipeline. We know that students are more likely to thrive, in and out of the classroom, when they see themselves represented by their teachers and other role models at school. The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has a stated goal of increasing the percentage of diverse educators in our state from 8% to 25% by 2030. We know that Waltham youth have the talent and the passion to contribute to this goal, and WPY believes that we have a responsibility to support these young people on their journey to becoming future educators.
In addition to various education-related professional development opportunities, we offer a number of internships in the field of education during the school-year. These include: serving as Mentors in the Bilingual Mentorship program at McDevitt Middle School, working as Conversation Partners in the Spanish for Educators program, and supporting the Childcare Center at the Waltham YMCA.
Teen Mental Health Alliance
Our Mental Health and Healthcare Professionals of Tomorrow initiative is dedicated to strengthening and diversifying the healthcare workforce of the future, with a particular focus on the mental healthcare field.
During the school-year, our work is centered on the Teen Mental Health Alliance internship program. The Teen Mental Health Alliance (TMHA) builds a community of trained high school students serving as mental health first aiders in Waltham.
Through a year-long internship, we support a cohort of Waltham High School students in the development of skills and knowledge related to mental health and provide interns with career exploration and professional development opportunities within the mental health care field.