Village’s innovative internship program provides both day and residential students with hands-on opportunities throughout the school year for career education, exploration and preparation to be global citizens. Internship Coordinator TeKedra Pierre has developed unique partnerships with industry-leading companies like Cisco, Houston Methodist Hospital and Pimcore that help lead students to careers in respective fields. With talent shortage reported as the top risk for businesses in 2019, Pierre writes in an Innovation Map article, "How do we teach students about jobs and careers that haven't even been created yet? We can't. We don't prepare them for jobs, but we provide them with the skills to be adaptable, flexible, creative, critical, collaborative and curious."
Students are encouraged to explore and experience different career paths, even if they are unsure of what field they want to pursue, through a multi-faceted approach. This includes internship opportunities, job shadowing, hands-on experience, school curriculum and mentorship. Village’s internship program continues to expand and incorporate a range of exclusive opportunities for its students at local university, industry and public sector entities.
The internship program is available to rising 9th through 12th graders, with priority given to rising 11th and 12th graders. Students serving as interns are given meaningful projects, assigned responsibilities and work deadlines and expectations, very similar to what they would expect as a full-time employee.