Students in Decatur schools look forward to summer internship

Wes Tomlinson, The Decatur Daily, Ala.
·3 min read

May 3—The chance to explore a wide range of careers convinced Decatur High junior Dane Ard to sign up for a new summer internship program introduced by Decatur City Schools Foundation this year.

Launch 2024 is a paid internship aimed at exposing upcoming seniors to the workforce. The foundation has partnered with the Alabama Farmers Cooperative, Decatur Morgan Hospital, Pryor Field Airport Authority and the Cook Museum of Natural Science, allowing four students to spend a month this summer working for those employers.

"That's why I chose this internship program, because I've been looking at engineering options, and I didn't know what I wanted to do," Ard said. "I saw Pryor Field and I thought, 'Hey, why not get some hands-on experience in the field and see what it's like.'"

Ard will begin work with Pryor Field Regional Airport on June 3, and he will work 40 hours a week Monday through Friday until June 28 with a salary of $25 an hour.

Ard said he will more than likely work alongside the airport's mechanics and technicians. Although his focus is engineering, the internship program requires him to learn every aspect of the airport, from business and marketing to maintenance of the aircraft.

"I'll also learn about some of the infrastructure if I want to go into civil and electrical engineering, and of course aerospace and engineering is always on the table since it's an airport," Ard said.

Ard said he also will have an opportunity to be a passenger on a plane on a flight from the airport to Montgomery.

Austin High junior McKenzie Brown will begin work at the Alabama Farmers Cooperative on May 29 and work through June 26. She said she wants to learn all operations of the cooperative to assist her in her planned career path.

"I'm planning on becoming a lawyer, so I feel this will help me learn what part of law I want to work in," Brown said. "This will give me a little bit of job experience before I go to college."

Brown will observe a wide range of occupations at the cooperative, including marketing, accounting, human resources and information technology, as well as working with the executive team, legal department and safety facilitators.

Officials with the cooperative said Brown will be given a tour of the facility, which includes their feed mill and Greenpoint Ag.

The other two students in the internship program are Austin High junior Erica Tornez-Garduno, who will intern with Decatur Morgan Hospital, and Decatur High junior Claire Stewart, who will intern with the Cook Museum of Natural Science.

Two students from Decatur High and two students from Austin High are selected for the internships and, depending on this summer's success, DCS Foundation Executive Director Stevi Price said the program could be expanded to accept more students from both schools.

Price said the program's success will be evaluated based on the skills the students learn during the internship and the extent to which it shapes their ideas about future careers.

— wes.tomlinson@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2442.