By Charlotte Redman
Staff Writer

It’s almost that time of year for seniors who are ready to leave Westford Academy and venture into the working world. As of April 4th, all seniors who choose to participate in an internship, senior project, or community service project will have left WA for the third quarter. The next time they will be seen inside the building is for their student presentations and exhibitions.

This year will be the tenth year that WA seniors have been given the opportunity to take on third-quarter internships, senior projects, and community service projects. Based on the number of applications submitted at least one half of the senior class are thought to be leaving.

Caroline Eliopoulis and Grace Gosselin talk about how they will be volunteering their time at Westford’s Cameron Senior Center and Westford House for their senior community service project. They will be joined by fellow classmate Christina Caviston who unfortunately was not able to make the interview.

During a student’s junior year at WA, they are offered a career breakfast and given the opportunity to shadow a career for a day which often helps a senior decide what to do, or even what not to do, for their internship.

Health teacher Melanie Jozokos said, “I think it [a student’s internship choice] is largely based on interest […] The Junior Job Shadow Day is something that kind of gets them [the students] started and gets them thinking. I think our career breakfast is something that also gets people thinking about what they might want to do.”

Over the course of the senior year, administration continues to provide multiple information sessions for students, pitching ideas and listing benefits of participating in an internship.

This year some students have mentioned feeling pressured by administration and guidance.

“I think it’s definitely encouraged by administration and by guidance […] There’s definitely been a push,” said Jozokos

In contrast, guidance intern Justin Levesque said, “I don’t think administration has pushed it in any way. I think they’re offering it [the opportunity to intern] as a huge chance to get real world experience. Not many other schools have this option and they [the WA administrators] have just been trying to express the value behind it [an internship] and give students a potential foot-up.”

After being questioned in a poll, only 37% of seniors actually admitted to feeling pressured by administration and guidance.

Two senior classes later stated that they did not want to be left behind by peers, showing that peer pressure may be a greater factor in this case.

Senior Hannah Hackley said, “I definitely know that a lot of my friends are planning to leave so I didn’t want to stay here by myself.”

On the other hand, Levesque said, “I think the main reason students participate is for real-world experience. Students will get a good feel for what they want to do in college, or even what they don’t want to do.”

No matter the reason a student chooses to participate, all students are encouraged to be aware that internships will require legitimate work.

According to Levesque, “Students who participate have to be self-motivated. There’s not going to be a teacher there all the time and you’re going to have more down time than you’re used to. It’s vital that you meet all your deadlines and luckily you will have the support of your site supervisor and a faculty adviser.”

Recently however, the same poll as before showed that 52% of seniors admitted that they are choosing to go on internship to get out of school, which sparks concern in the administration.

Jozokos said, “A lot of students have ‘senioritis;’ after the holiday break ‘I need to get out of here’ is somewhat the mentality.”

To make sure that internships are viewed seriously, they are graded by the administration at the end of the semester.

Guidance counselor Susan Lynch said, “A student has to meet certain attendance standards and discipline standards. […] It’s a pass or fail grade; […] there are rubrics online and it’s like any paper the student has in English or History or anything like that. […] The final grade comes ultimately down to their [the senior’s] faculty adviser.”

Overall, an internship is not an opportunity that many high school students are offered throughout the nation, but nowadays most colleges encourage internships because the real world experiences are invaluable to companies who look for working experience when hiring.

“I’m wicked excited to get out of school, have this experience, and meet new people,” said Hackley.

Senior Bretta Beer discusses her senior project. She plans to write a research paper on the rise of anxiety in Westford