Students from FACS teacher Ellee Gray’s Career and Community Connections class have been interning at businesses that provide human services since the beginning of the semester.

The class is held during silver four and each student is placed in Gray’s seminar, which allows the opportunity to intern for about three hours. Students are only required to intern twice each week, so students spend Fridays in the classroom.

Senior Breanne Young is one of 10 students who enrolled in the semester-long class. Young has been interning at Brookdale Senior Living, a nursing home in Shawnee.

Young originally joined the class to gain new and helpful experiences.

“I thought the class would give me a chance to work,” Young said. “I want to be a nurse, so I thought it would be a good chance to work at a nursing home.”

As the teacher of the class, Gray allows students to find their desired internship on their own, while following certain guidelines.

“The students line up their own internship. It has to be within the human services field and can be paid or unpaid,” Gray said. “Sometimes the students’ previous job will work out, or sometimes they may have to seek out a new placement.”

In order to help students gain knowledge about careers, Gray uses the class as a way for them to acquire basic skills that will help them to excel in future careers.

“[The students] are learning about how to work, how to interact with customers, and how to interact with other people. It’s real life skills that you need for the workforce,” Gray said. “[The internships] are great for writing your resume.”

By interning, Young has received new job opportunities.

“[The staff] wants to hire me now. They said they really liked me and [interning] was a good learning experience,” Young said. “I’m also a Certified Nursing Assistant, which means I can be hired as a CNA once I turn 18.”

As a way for students to evaluate and improve their skills, mentors from each business assess students during their internships, according to Gray.

“[The student’s mentor] evaluates them and gives them feedback on their strengths and weaknesses and on what they need to improve,” Gray said.

According to Young, the internship has taught her beneficial skills.

“[The internship] has let me work with more people and help people,” Young said. “[I’ve learned] how to work with older people with Alzheimer’s, which is cool.”

Not only does the class complete internships, it also works on community service projects.

“On some of the Fridays, we planned for community service projects where we made learning activities for a preschool program here in western Shawnee and donated supplies to the preschools,” Gray said. “We were focusing on jobs, but also on some community service as well.”

Gray believes the class helps students decide what area of study they may want to go into before graduating high school.

“[The class] is a great way to find out if you are interested in a career before spending a lot of money in college,” Gray said.

By working with students who take the class, Gray gives students the opportunity to receive special recognition.

“This is the capstone class of the FACS program which means only juniors and seniors can take it,” Gray said. “Once students complete the class, [students] are recognized by the state for completing the FACS program.”