A new class of seniors is seeking out internships and service opportunities, preparing to learn outside of a classroom and explore prospective career fields. 

Charging Forward is a program at CHS through which seniors can gain real-world experience through volunteering or unpaid work of their choice. The program makes it possible for seniors to end classes on May 11, though final exams in online classes are still required. The application, now digital, is due Friday, March 6. The program takes inspiration from similar programs across the district, most directly the one at Westfield High School.

“They basically had the same program, and we had a kind of recap of everything they provided for the students,” College & Career Specialist Maggie Rodriguez said. “I don’t know if every high school has this, but we definitely wanted this. We wanted to give the students, specifically the seniors as they go off into the adult world, an opportunity to make a connection through internships.”

The application requires seniors to seek out their own internships and service opportunities. Those in classes such as Political Science, which require an internship as part of the course, may continue with the one they already have. However, those who have a paid job must do additional, unpaid work in order for it to count toward Charging Forward’s 60-hour requirement.

“I think it’s a great way for seniors to get real-world experience in their careers, and in those [three] weeks you can gain professional skills for what you’re trying to do in college as well,” senior Ayush Katpally said. “I know some kids who are doing internships with professors, shadowing doctors, or coding. That helps them get exposure to what they want to do in college.”

Students may reach out to teachers, community members or others whom they wish to learn from. According to Rodriguez, the process of seeking out internships itself does a great deal for students.

“I have seen students actually speak for themselves,” Rodriguez said. “They have to reach out to the manager, reach out to a teacher if they’re doing on-site . . . that has been, for me, one of the biggest single [benefits].”

Charging Forward is in its third year. Over these three years, changes in the application, such as an increase in the number of required hours and a virtual application format, have been implemented, but students have gotten the same opportunity to learn through service opportunities.

“Essentially, we worked under one of the robotics mentors and built a sensor testing board,” Varun Natarajan, a first-year student at Purdue University who participated in Charging Forward while attending CHS, said. “We gave that design and the code to the robotics team.”

Students often consider career goals in their internship choice, as Natarajan, a current computer engineering major, did. Katpally hopes to use the experience toward gaining experience as a premedical student.

“I can explore what I want to do in college, whether it’s from biomedical research or shadowing different specialties,” Katpally said.

At the end of the program, students’ work culminates in the Share Fair, a gallery-style presentation where seniors display what they’ve learned from their experience. In the past, presentations have been varied, but Rodriguez finds that they frequently reflect new and unexpected experiences.

“We had a student bring a crab last year [as part of] a research project about the pollution in the ocean and how it affects them,” Rodriguez said. “I think that students don’t know what to expect, but once they’re in it and come out of it with the Share Fair, they have a lot more [clarity]. Year after year, I get kids who are just beaming and so overjoyed with what they have.”