Santa Fe Public Schools student internships expanding quickly

Dec. 13—Internships have gone prime time this year at Santa Fe Public Schools.

Until this year, student internships, or work-based learning at local businesses, were not as structured or organized as they became this summer through a collaboration among Santa Fe Public Schools, four hotels and the Los Alamos National Laboratory Foundation.

They created an internship program called Level Up, where 22 students earned above minimum-wage in jobs at La Fonda on the Plaza, Rosewood Inn of the Anasazi, Four Seasons Resort Rancho Encantado Santa Fe and Hotel Santa Fe, as well as received regular interaction with hotel executives.

The students and hotel bosses were so happy with one another that nine of those high school students stayed on after the internships ended and now have real jobs at the hotels, said Jose Villarreal, the school district's work-based learning coordinator.

Word spread fast and far.

Santa Fe High School and Capital High School in the fall semester had 27 new student interns, not just at the hotels but now also in the Mayor's Office, the City Attorney's Office, at Creative Startups, SITE Santa Fe, Harry's Roadhouse and other businesses.

"We continued the model with the hotels," Villarreal said. "We've expanded to all junior and senior students."

The hotels in spring recruited the first cohort from the culinary arts students at Santa Fe High, business pathways students at Capital High and at The MASTERS Program.

"We will have 25 at the hotels next semester and another 30 or 40 at other places," Villarreal said. "Our goal is to get up to 150 interns out there, potentially next fall. We can do it this summer, why not? We have the demand from employers."

The interns now are being paid $14 per hour.

La Fonda on the Plaza had 10 interns in summer. Vice President and General Manager Rik Blyth believes up to 10 Santa Fe hotels may be accepting high school interns soon, with Bishop's Lodge and Heritage Hotels & Resorts and its five downtown properties on board.

"I wouldn't be surprised if we have 100 students," Blyth said about the participating hotels.

Interest in Level Up and the student internship has spread beyond Santa Fe Public Schools and the hotels.

Santa Fe Economic & Community Development Director Rich Brown on Wednesday will ask the City Council for money from the city's federal American Rescue Plan funds to support the school district's work-based learning program.

The New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions oversees a 2021 $2.4 million federal Workforce Innovation Opportunity Act grant to the state that was used to reimburse workforce training in the hospitality sector until Dec. 2 in a joint program with the New Mexico Tourism Department.

The fund still has $700,000. It remains an open question whether these state departments want to take Level Up statewide.

"We are looking to repurpose $700,000 for Level Up," Tourism Department spokesman Cody Johnson said.

Workforce Solutions and Tourism are still in the earliest discussions.

"There is not anything in place at all," Johnston said. "These dollars were designated for the hospitality program. We're looking to keep those dollars in the hospitality industry."

Blyth believes the state funding, just like the potential city funding, could be used to reimburse hotels for student salaries.

Villarreal has entered into agreements with the New Mexico Department of Transportation and the local contract manufacturing company Fab Lab Hub to accept high school students as pre-apprentices. Fab Lab Hub will have five students in the spring semester from Santa Fe High striving to earn badges — industry microcertifications — in the areas of CAD design, design thinking, 3-D printing, laser machining, computerized numerical control machining and technical writing, Fab Lab Hub founder Sarah Boisvert said.

"Badges are pathways to well-paying jobs without a college degree," Boisvert said.

Blyth at La Fonda spearheaded the hotel internships a year ago as he attended a LANL Foundation meeting with business leaders to get them more involved in education. The foundation had set as a goal creating internships through its College, Career and Community Pathways program. Blyth brought up hotels' desire for summer student jobs.

The LANL Foundation introduced the hoteliers to Villarreal, and very quickly, Level Up was created and hotel general managers were recruiting students. The student interns were on board from the end of May to the third week of August.

With the national worker shortage, these students had real jobs in finance, sales and marketing; at the front desk; as restaurant hostesses or in the kitchen; valets and butlers; or at the Detours shop at La Fonda.

"In summer, it's almost impossible to hire enough people," Blyth said. "To be able to hire the students was a bonanza. What attracted the students was we sweetened the pot. They would have meetings with our executive staff every two weeks."

Blyth said the hoteliers presented the school district an internship with educational components.

"It can't just be hiring students," Blyth said. "There has to be an enrichment program. I want to build future managers."

Santa Fe Public Schools also prepared students with résumé and job interview skills before the hoteliers came to the schools and then conducted biweekly evaluations of each student, Villarreal said.

"They were willing to be on the job," Villarreal said. "They were learning soft skills and hard skills, how to work with high-end customers, customer service. You just see their maturity. They made presentations at the end of the summer. They said, 'Now I feel like I can do anything.' "