TURNERS FALLS — Two internship programs — in health care and social services, and advanced manufacturing — will be offered at Turners Falls High School starting in 2021, making the school one of only a few in the area with such professionally oriented programs, and the only one in the county offering the state education department’s internship program.
Both programs will be four-year tracks that students commit to in their freshman year, which will determine the classes students take throughout high school. The program culminates during their senior year with a 100-hour internship in a local organization chosen according to each student’s goals and interests.
“It’s based on their individual interest,” said Turners Falls High School Principal Joanne Menard. “It will give them a huge advantage over other students, either to get jobs right out of high school, or going to college. It’s going to be a leg up on other candidates.”
The program Turners Falls High School is following is called Innovation Pathways, which is administered by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE). Turners Falls High School is the only school in Franklin County with an Innovation Pathways program, according to Menard and Christine Limoges, Gill-Montague Regional School District’s Director of Teaching and Learning.
Participating schools are required by DESE to make a long-term commitment to the Innovation Pathways program by offering classes required for each program and hiring or training staff if necessary, they added. Turners Falls High School is investing $30,000 to train current staff and develop curricula.
The subjects of the two programs — health care and social services, and advanced manufacturing — were chosen based on data on local employment opportunities: they are respectively the No. 1 and No. 2 largest employment sectors in the area, Limoges said.
“We targeted our pathways to build around the two big needs,” she said.
The four-year program includes classes on topics in each field, and classes on working professionally — how to write a resume, how to interview, how to dress. In their senior year, students have an internship with a local organization in their field. For example, students might intern at a doctor’s office or a social service agency, Limoges said.
The health care and social services program is planned to start in the spring. A handful of freshmen are now working through the application process, Menard said.
The advanced manufacturing program is expected to start the following fall.
Because the programs are four-year tracks, students can only sign up as freshmen. The school expects to add five freshmen each year, Menard and Limoges said.
Eligibility for the program is not based on academic performance, Menard said. Instead, the school tries to be sure that students are ready to commit to a four-year track, that they are interested in the field or that they can advocate for themselves in a business setting.
“It’s also about their passion,” Menard said. “Why are they interested in this? What do they see themselves doing?”
Reach Max Marcus at mmarcus@recorder.com or 413-930-4231.