Partnership to Stimulate High School Student Interest in Engineering

We are excited to announce that we will be partnering with the Long Beach Unified School District to develop an engineering virtual internship for high school students in California. The virtual internship will be offered in two courses this summer for students participating in the district’s Linked Learning program, which gives high school students opportunities to engage in work-based learning. In the virtual internship, students will solve a real engineering problem using the same techniques that professional engineers use, exposing them to engineering as a field of study and a career path. By helping students connect their academic studies to real-world experiences, engineering virtual internships stimulate students’ interest in engineering careers and motivate them to pursue engineering degrees.  Because these internships are completed online, requiring only a computer or tablet with Internet capabilities, they address the acute shortage of work-based learning experiences available to high school students. This work will be supported by a generous grant from the James Irvine Foundation, and we hope this pilot project will grow into a permanent feature of the district’s Linked Learning program.