Public Education Foundation officials say they need about 30 more internships for this summer’s STEP-UP program that places low-income students in internships at local businesses and organizations.
Jeff Rector, PEF’s business partnerships manager, said the program has placed more than 350 high school students from Hamilton County schools in paid summer internships across Chattanooga and Hamilton County since 2016, and the goal this year is to place 150 more.
STEP-UP Chattanooga interns have earned over $500,000 in wages by working at BlueCross BlueShield, EPB, the Tennessee Aquarium, Chattanooga Times Free Press, RiverCity Company, Habitat for Humanity, Girls Inc., the Chattanooga Autism Center and others. Interested employers can sign up at stepupchattanooga.org.
“Last summer, we had to turn away students because we did not have enough internships to offer them,” said Dan Challener, president of the Public Education Foundation. “Every year, hundreds of students go through work-readiness training and are eager to work and make money to cover school expenses and support their families.”
Newcomb Spring Corp. officials have been hiring interns for the program for three years, and Don Jacobson III, the business and sales manager who helps supervise the Newcomb interns, said he personally sees it as an investment in the next generation of manufacturers.