By Kim Hilsenbeck
Forty Hays CISD high school students will end the summer with a boost on their resumes — and money in their bank — following a paid internship through Skillpoint Alliance.
Their jobs?
One group worked to create a safe hub in which to explore the moon. The other group delved into energy savings and environmental improvements in school buildings.
The district’s Career & Technology Education Director, Suzi Mitchell, opened up this opportunity for Hays High and Lehman High students through Skillpoint Alliance, an Austin-based nonprofit that helps adults improve skills and get better paying jobs.
According to Megan Claiborne, one of the Skillpoint internship coordinators, “They also have youth camps and programs in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) that help change preconceived notions about what a scientist is or can be. “It helps build students’ confidence to pursue those types of goals academically and in industry,” she said.
The nonprofit connects people and businesses.
Lourdes Ibrahin, another coordinator, said, “Skillpoint worked to unite the district with clients.”
Those clients are area companies. Exploration Architecture and a nonprofit called CleanTex funded the Hays CISD internships.
Students received an $800 stipend for the four-week program. In addition, there was a potential for bonuses based on peer and instructor reviews. They were rated on factors such as having a strong work ethic, being a good leader and working cooperatively with team members.
Students met every day at Lehman High School in the ‘Project Lead the Way’ classrooms. Mitchell said they worked eight-hour days, just as they would in the real world, with 45 minutes for lunch.
In one room, 20 students worked for Exploration Architecture figuring out a method to lower a lunar rover into a lunar pit on the moon, according to Ibrahin.
“The specific one they’re looking at is the Marius Hills Skylight,” she said.
Scientists discovered these skylights on the moon. The caves underneath, formed from volcanic activity as recently as 2.5 million years ago, hold promise as natural shelters.
“They’re looking to explore it from the inside,” Ibrahin said.
She added that the pit could potentially be used as a camping ground for a lunar vehicle for protection from harsh conditions, such as extreme temperatures.
This group used Computer Aided Design to create a robot then developed a system to get the robot into the hole. Interns also built a model of the pit using a papier-mâché clay mixture.
The students working for Exploration Architecture also took a field trip to NASA in Houston. They met an astronaut, took a tour in different work areas and saw the Saturn rocket.
Another student spoke about what she called a “super human” robot NASA is working on to send into outer space.
In the other room, a group of 20 students worked on projects related to water, energy and the environment.
They created a water-saving filter, compared LED to fluorescent light bulbs to find cost and environmental savings and conducted a cost-benefit analysis on Lehman’s current Styrofoam lunch trays by researching alternatives. The current trays are thrown away daily. The students recommended a reusable tray good for five years and made from recyclable plastic. They also reviewed compostable trays and other materials.
The project on lunch trays required analysis of several factors, including additional water usage, which would cost an extra $1,500 over a 15-year time span.
“But even after the water usage [these trays are] still making a $96,000 savings for the school,” Lehman student David Hernandez said.
The group’s field trips were to Ecology Action in Austin and an LCRA water facility.
At the end of the internship, both groups presented their findings and products to the companies that hired them.
Hays CISD students applied through Skillpoint for the positions, according to Mitchell.
“They had to write an essay and answer questions about why they wanted the internship,” she said.
Overall, Mitchell, believes the program was a success. Students said they learned teamwork, patience, leadership, CAD modeling and more about STEM jobs. Many said they can now see themselves in science and technology fields such as aerospace, physics and computer science in the future, including a few who said just a few months earlier, they never would have considered a STEM field.
The hands-on aspect of the internships appealed to students as did hearing from guest speakers.
Lehman student Keyana Burkley said the program inspired her to be more confident in physics class next year. She is also considering a STEM career.
More than 80 students from Hays and Lehman high schools applied, which is why Mitchell said they ran two internships instead of the one they planned.
“We’re hoping to do it again next year,” Mitchell said.
