Trekkers Students Complete Community-based Internships

Rockland, Maine - Trekkers’ LEAP program (Launching Empowered and Aspiring Professionals) has recently had six high school seniors conclude personalized internships this spring. The internship portion of the LEAP program is designed for 12th grade students to explore career fields and network with professionals. The opportunity helps students gain clarity on their aspirations while they practice professional skill development through hands-on, paid internships in a professional setting of their choosing within the local community.

Photo 1 Caption: Alex and Herring Gut supervisor, Georgie, standing proudly next to their completed compost bin.

Penbay Medical Center hosted Laura and Isabel, under the direction of Paula Delahanty. Each student had the opportunity to shadow a Nursing Supervisor making rounds and interacting with different departments within the hospital. In regards to her internship Laura expressed “I enjoyed learning about a couple different psychology careers and a little about what they entail. I’ve always wanted to experience what it’s like working in the PARC unit and finally could.” Isabel also completed some internship hours with the St. George Ambulance, under the direction of Amy Dyer Drinkwater, learning more information about the local ambulance service.

Herring Gut Learning Center hosted Alex, who was interested in aquaponics under the supervision of Georgie Burruss. Alex not only worked within Herring Gut’s aquaponics system but also cleaned fish tanks, spent time in their greenhouse, completed general maintenance, and built a composting system. Alex’s advice to future students was “Just do it, I loved my experience!”

Maine Media Workshops hosted Luca under the direction of Rafi Baeza. Luca had the opportunity to help with community outreach and marketing by editing a piece for MidCoast Music Academy and by conducting interviews. He also had the honor of sitting in on a lighting workshop, helping him gain valuable knowledge and skills.

Photo 2 Caption: Jack Sullivan, from the Island Institute, teaching Jeanna how to operate the drone. Photo Courtesy of Jack.

Nick Brown with Cloutier and Associates worked with directly with high school senior Bea, who was interested in learning more about becoming a lawyer. Nick even helped Bea get some exposure to the courtroom by connecting her with Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth Noble at the Waldo County District Attorney’s office.

The Island Institute hosted Jeanna, who worked directly with Jack Sullivan on photoshoots and editing photography. During her internship Jeanna had the opportunity to visit an island artist’s studio and assist with island drone photography. Through this experience Jeanna learned about the tools, settings, and features of DSLR cameras. In response to the internship, Jeanna expressed “[this is] a truly fantastic opportunity for both students and local organizations!”

Finally, Naretiv hosted Makaila over the winter, providing her with direct experience in the marketing field. Although, throughout her senior year, Makaila discovered her passion lies in youth development and she has recently decided to finish her internship directly with Trekkers supporting programming.

In addition to Makaila, three other students are completing their individual internships in the local business community this summer. Royan Bartley, from Keep Your Pet, is currently hosting Morgan for an internship in Animal Behavior. Morgan has been able to shadow Royan on client visits, learning specific solutions to unique animal behavior cases and also learn about owning your own business. The Art Loft is hosting Philomena under the direction of Karen Olson. Philomena has supported the Art Loft at events, paint nights and open studios times. Sgt. Redden with the Rockland PD has setup an amazing internship for Seb. Starting this summer, Seb will have a department overview and learn about their daily operations.

Trekkers is very grateful to the local business who donate their time and energy to supervise students during their internships. The goal of the program is to help students connect their developing interests and passions to real-world employment experiences and that would not be possible without the local businesses and their dedication to our students.

Trekkers is a Rockland-based nonprofit that works to cultivate the inherent strengths of young people through the power of long-term mentoring relationships. Trekkers utilizes outdoor, experiential, and travel-based education as a means of strengthening resiliency, raising aspirations, defining post-secondary goals, and increasing connections between young people and their communities. Founded in 1994, Trekkers now serves 240 seventh through twelfth-grade students from the Midcoast communities of Owls Head, Thomaston, South Thomaston, Rockland, Cushing and St. George. The Trekkers Training Institute was founded in 2017, and is dedicated to improving outcomes for young people by providing training, coaching and other professional development opportunities on some of the most effective, tested youth development techniques and principles.

For more information about Trekkers, please visit www.trekkers.org or contact the Trekkers office by calling 207-594-5095.