Wednesday, August 9, 2023
Work-based learning opportunities are growing as communities understand how important they are in helping students find their career passion and keep homegrown talent. Rock County has gotten a jump on the trend with its Rock Internship, a grassroots effort that offers work-based learning opportunities to high school juniors.
“[Students] don’t realize what is here in their backyard,” says Molly Markley, Community and Continuing Education Coordinator for Blackhawk Technical College in Janesville. She is also the Rock Internship and Rock Externship Coordinator. She notes that Rock County’s proximity to Chicago, Minneapolis, Milwaukee, and Rockford does not help keep talent local.
The Rock Internship is designed to entice local talent to stay. Launched in 2018, the summer internship program was the brainchild of James Otterstein, the Economic Development Manager for Rock County. Otterstein knew he couldn’t go it alone. Today Molly is the administrator of the program with help from an assistant. They work with area businesses and CTE staff at K-12 schools to market the program. The County of Rock provides some funding, and the Southwest Wisconsin Workforce Development Board does all the employment-related paperwork and HR functions.
Cade Spoden, who was a junior at Craig High School in Janesville, said that his focus was mostly on the medical field in 2019. There were a multitude of businesses participating in the internship program, but nothing strictly “medical.” So he applied for the Environmental Science 1 position at the Rock County Health Department. It would give him the opportunity to work outside on the water quality of lakes and streams.
“I got the internship and spent a lot of time working outside within the community,” he says. “That first internship was what solidified my choice. I figured out I actually really enjoyed this kind of stuff. … It just hit me.”
Trayvon Crain, now a graduate from Rock County University High School, a charter school, tells a similar story.
Having grown up in a “teaching” family and having had close relationships with his own teachers, he says, “I always knew what I wanted to do.” Trayvon took a lot of transcripted credit classes and general education classes at Blackhawk Tech while he was still in high school that he applied toward his associate degree in foundations of teacher education.
“Even if there isn't [an internship] that fully matches your career,” he says, “at least try to find one that is somewhat similar and go through it anyway because it's a very good experience.”
He interned as a peer advisor for a student resource center at Blackhawk Tech. “It makes me feel really good because I am helping actual adults continue or just start their academic journeys, which is incredibly cool, especially for someone as young as me,” says Trayvon.
By the way, Cade and Trayvon are both planning to stay in the area after college, and the program has come full circle. While studying environmental sciences and environmental law at UW-Whitewater, Cade was hired as an intern directly by Rock County and has been paired with another high school intern making his way through the Rock Internship.
“That’s what you call a pipeline!” says Molly, who reported that the number of applications in 2023 more than doubled over the previous year. The future looks bright for Rock County!
For more information, visit yourrockinternship.com.