Learning Through Internship
Host an Intern
Join the 100+ King County professionals who host our students as unpaid interns for four hours most Tuesdays and Thursdays of the school year. Hosts – we call them mentors – help teens develop soft skills, learn about careers, support routine tasks, and tackle real-world projects. We welcome mentors from any career field.
If you VOLUNTEER, you aren't locked in. You'll be added to our database, and if your work matches a student’s interests, they may reach out to you. You'll meet the student before fully committing.
How Internships Work
Learning through Internship (LTI) is a crucial pillar of Gibson Ek’s model. All of our 200 students, including new freshmen, are expected to find an internship at or near the start of the school year and consistently attend one all year. Internships are four hours each Tuesday and Thursday.
Staff support & school credit
School staff, especially the student’s advisor, guide and support. Advisors regularly visit internship sites to help develop goals and projects – and keep them on track. Because Gibson Ek is a mastery-based, project-centered high school, students can earn competency credits for their internship learning experiences.
Intern, not employee
The state only supports unpaid teen internships if they remain – on balance – a learning experience. While the student can help with some routine tasks, a business cannot replace a paid employee with an intern. Tasks should vary. Additionally, students should observe many areas of the business. Though we make occasional exceptions, students should typically develop a larger project that they can work on independently during some or all of those four hours.
Internship project
An internship project could be authentic – from the business’s “if we only had time” wish list, for example. Or the intern might try their hand at replicating the mentor’s work. Or … something else. Project types and time spans vary by each unique internship and student. Staff can help students and mentors develop a project, if needed.
Internship times
The four internship hours can span any time of the day that works for both mentor and student – a few internships even start before or end after school hours.
Internship calendar
Students attend internships every Tuesday and Thursday except at the very start of the year and during school breaks, our “Exhibition” weeks, and occasional state testing days. Most internships last all year, but some may end early because the business is seasonal, the business or staff changes in some way, or the mentor, student or advisor has an issue that cannot be resolved. If so, students are expected to transition into a new opportunity immediately (with staff support).
Finding an Internship
Students may find a potential internship:
- Searching Gibson Ek’s database of current and previous opportunities.
- Networking through family and friends.
- Using web searches and maps to cold-contact workplaces that fit their interests.
Contact & set up
After the teen confirms they would have transportation, the student is responsible for emailing, calling or otherwise connecting with a potential mentor to request a meeting. If the mentor consents, the student and advisor meet them at the business to determine whether all three agree that an internship might be a good fit. If so, the intern and advisor also will likely ask about dress, snacks, parking and other logistics, best time span and start date, and what to expect on the first day.
Required paperwork
Before the internship can start, the Internship Coordinator must background check the mentor (if not already on file), and ask mentor, parent/guardian, student and advisor to sign our online learning agreement. This agreement provides basic emergency contact information as well as safety/legal parameters for the internship.
Remote Internships
During COVID closure time, we began offering remote internships, allowing students to work on a project from home with T-Th coaching “check-ins” via Zoom with a professional serving as their internship mentor. We do still occasionally have students who request to take advantage of this alternative internship approach, as it allows them to work with mentors who are remote themselves, or who work for a company that won’t agree to host interns onsite, or who live outside the area.
Our 101s, however, are not permitted to intern remotely, and older students who request remote mentors MUST have full advisor and family support that they can be productive in this scenario.
During the Internship
Attendance Requirements
We track attendance every school day, so all four parties – mentor, student, advisor and parent/guardian – have responsibilities on internship days.
- Mentor: Respond promptly to email sent near the end of each week asking to either confirm expected attendance or report irregularities.
- Student:
- Complete GE’s T-Th Attendance Form in appropriate detail by 3:30 p.m. to confirm that day’s internship attendance.
- As far in advance as possible, communicate absences, tardies or early departures directly to their mentor, just as an employee would.
- Parent/guardian: As far in advance as possible, communicate excused internship absences, tardies or early departures directly to the Gibson Ek front office, just as they would on any other school day.
- Advisor: Report student attendance by 4 p.m., just as they would on any other school day, marking absent those students who neglect to complete the form or contact them.
Professionalism & soft skills
Our students are not college interns majoring in a related field. Rather, our students are teens trying to understand the working world. Few have experience with professional soft skills, so they benefit greatly from family & mentor coaching. These are the soft skills we cover in school:
Presentation: emotional control, poise, posture, eye contact, greetings, reliable attendance, appropriate dress & grooming.
Communication: notifying ASAP about absences, late arrivals or tardies; attentive listening and notetaking on instructions; “code switching” language in professional settings.
Mindset: conveying enthusiasm, interest and curiosity; staying focused on tasks, working briskly and persevering; avoiding distractions such as phones & earbuds; taking initiative on tasks but asking questions when necessary.
Internship Tasks & Projects
A project is a longer-term learning experience that usually involves some planning, higher-level thinking, research and sometimes even empathy to reach a specific outcome. A task, in comparison, is simple and straightforward.
For example, grading multiple-choice tests for a teacher is a task, while designing and teaching a lesson plan is a project. Cleaning brushes at an art studio is a task, while creating a social-media marketing plan to boost class sign-ups is a project. Feeding chickens at a farm is a task, while researching and presenting about healthier feed alternatives is a project. Washing cars at an auto body shop is a task, while closely observing mechanics and then trying to repair body damage on a junker behind the shop – that’s a project.
YES, our students can help with tasks, but we want them also to develop one or more larger projects. GEHS staff can help with this, if the student and mentor are stumped.
Internship Project Types
AUTHENTIC projects are something the workplace might actually use if the intern can pull it off. Sometimes that’s a “wish list” item that staff hasn’t had time for, such as web updates, signage, informational flyers or posters, social media campaigns, newsletter writing, event planning, building something, redesigning a space, doing inventory, designing an activity, etc.
PARALLEL projects involve engaging the intern in one of your current or past projects, essentially having them do it “in parallel” with you, such as programming, architectural drawings, game design, recipe testing, etc.
PREPARATORY projects allow the intern to learn deeply about an area of your career field and then report back to staff. Topic examples include the pros and cons of using a controversial hair dye ingredient (for a salon), how AI could impact content writing (for tech), the cost and benefits of public EV chargers (for city government), etc.
Other employees & the intern
At the workplace, the mentor is the primary person who oversees the student, setting their daily schedule and goals. That said, it may benefit a student to sometimes shadow or interact with other employees. This is encouraged as long as anybody working 1:1 “behind closed doors” with the student is background checked.
Getting help
Teens are just starting to learn what professionalism means, so they sometimes struggle in areas that seem obvious to adults: attendance, attention to detail, and much more. If so, we urge both students and mentors to reach out to the student's advisor right away for support. Neither mentors nor students should worry that asking for help will land the student – or mentor! – “in trouble.” We are all about formative coaching and encouraging growth at Gibson Ek.
Attendance FAQs
Who should be on campus Tuesdays and Thursdays?
Only students without an internship or a scheduled set-up meeting should be on campus on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
- Unless they need to take the bus to campus in order to walk to an internship, students with active internships should not be on campus at ANY time on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
- Unless a staff member requests to work with the student in person, families should NOT send students with active internships to campus, thinking they will get more done or receive 1:1 support. Our advisors and support staff typically are not present to offer academic support and supervision on T-Th because they are out visiting internships.
- Once a set-up meeting is scheduled, an advisor may approve the student to work remotely until the internship begins as long as both agree on a work plan.
- If a mentor needs to cancel an internship day, the student may confer with their advisor and mentor about related work to complete remotely.
- If a student’s internship falls through or ends before the conclusion of the school year, they should come to campus to work with the internship coordinator to find a new one.
If the student does not take initiative to find a new opportunity and schedule a set-up meeting within two weeks, Gibson Ek will schedule a family meeting for additional support.
If internships are 4 hours, what do the remaining 2 hours of the school day look like?
Our students are expected to independently engage in Student-Directed Learning (SDL) remotely, which usually includes at least an hour of online math in addition to other school requirements such as writing, project work, health and wellness, etc. This is not homework to be saved for late evening, rather it should be completed BEFORE 3:30 p.m., so that the advisor can log attendance before the 4 p.m. deadline.
Students report their accomplishments in detail to their advisor on their attendance form. If the student or advisor observes that work is not being done, an advisor meeting should be scheduled immediately.
Can a student check out a workplace for just one day (shadow day)?
We encourage especially our juniors and seniors to take a day away from their primary internship once in a while to learn more about another career path. We call these “shadow days,” and we teach our freshmen how to conduct informational interviews with professionals about their career paths – a perfect shadow-day activity! Depending on the workplace and adult contact person, a shadow day could span a few days, take a full day, or be just long enough for a quick tour and an informational interview – maybe an hour or two?
As long as students discuss with their advisor, have transportation, provide plenty of notice to their primary mentor, have their parent/guardian sign and submit the proper shadow day permission form, they may independently spend a shadow day at a workplace of interest. They are encouraged to share what they learned with their advisor as well as their entire advisory, if possible.
Can the mentor or student end the internship early?
If a mentor, student or parent feels strongly that an internship should not continue, we urge them to contact the advisor or coordinator before deciding to stop. If staff support doesn’t help solve issues, staff can help communicate a transition plan, set an end date, and ensure that both mentor and student provide written feedback. Students should have a new internship in place or be working hard to find one immediately.
Other FAQs
How do students get to their internships?
The Issaquah School District does NOT provide internship transportation. Families are responsible for ensuring the student can get there, whether by foot, city bus or car. Public transportation is free in King County for 18 and under, and many Gibson Ek students use it.
Is it legal NOT to pay an intern?
The Washington Department of Labor & Industries supports our program as an unpaid learning experience as long as the intern is not displacing an employee. Hundreds of regional businesses and organizations of all sizes have hosted our students. The Internship Coordinator can provide more information for prospective mentors.
What about protections such as liability insurance?
Students are first covered by Issaquah School District liability insurance at internship sites, though the district requires that we only partner with businesses that have in place at least the standard $1 million in liability coverage – as a backup. Additionally, families agree to cover medical expenses in case of an accident and sign a “release and hold harmless” for the school district. We cannot request that families sign a release on behalf of the hosting workplace, but many workplaces ask families and students to sign their own “release and hold harmless” clause before the internship can begin.
Should mentors text with interns?
Our students email mentors from within our school’s closed Google Suite for Education. We prefer this method because all of their emails are viewable by staff at any time. Some mentors, however, prefer to text with interns. If so, the intern AND the family should agree, and these texts should ALWAYS include the parent/guardian as well as the student for safety reasons.
Are mentors allowed to drive an intern to another location?
Mentors who wish to drive a student must complete a volunteer driver form for the district, and the parent/guardian must also consent. GEHS can provide those forms, which should be requested as far in advance as possible.
Could a workplace hire the intern outside of internship hours?
Gibson Ek doesn’t have a say in that. Students are ‘paid’ for their internship hours with academic credit only. Some businesses, however, have paid interns to work evenings, weekends or summers, but this is considered unrelated to our program.
Does the Tuesday & Thursday schedule allow students to work at a paid part-time job during the school day when they are not at their internship?
Not without the same special permission for work-study that any district teen would need to obtain. Without that, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, students can start a part-time job no earlier than 3:50 p.m., the official end of our school day, even though “on campus” time ends at 1 p.m. for students without an internship. This applies even if their internship takes place during an unorthodox time span. Note that early dismissal Wednesdays are an exception, as our school day officially ends at 1 p.m. They could start working no earlier than 1 p.m. on Wednesdays.
Can a student keep interning during school breaks or summer?
Sometimes students choose to volunteer – unpaid – to support their mentor into the summer or school breaks. That is between the family and the workplace, but district liability coverage would not apply. No student should feel obligated to do this, but if they want to, Gibson Ek does not have a say. In some of these situations, students have requested the mentor sign off on volunteer hours for college applications.