I-Term paves the way to summer internships and jobs for students

Tech Valley High’s career exposure program called I-Term paved the way to summer internships and jobs for a group of students. 

I-Term places students at local businesses and organizations for up to two weeks every February. Students are encouraged to explore their passions and find out if the career path is right for them. More than 50 businesses were involved in this year’s program. 

Four seniors and a junior were invited to intern or work this summer at the businesses they had gone to. Sydney Hayes of Menands, Ralph Accornero of Catskill, James Piambino of Cobleskill-Richmondville, Kira Kested of Greenville and junior Hannah Hoyt of Menands.

Hoyt will intern at the Wadsworth Center of the New York State Department of Health in Albany, where scientists study ongoing public health issues and investigate basic biological processes that contribute to human health and disease. 

Hoyt was introduced to scientists at the Wadsworth Center through her TVHS biology teacher during her sophomore year. She shadowed the scientists for three days that summer. However, she credits her I-Term experience in February with the opportunity to intern there this summer. She worked under Dr. Wolfgang and Samantha Wirth in the bacteriology department. 

“I-term really helped me secure this internship” Hoyt said. “In February, I did a lot of digital data collection and I even wrote a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the department on how to do the work I did, since it was a new method they tried. My supervisors were extremely impressed with my work, and said that they would even bring my SOP to a conference they went to in April.”

Hayes will intern at the Troy Innovation Garage, where she will help pilot a summer camp program for middle school and high school students who are interested in entrepreneurship. 

Accornero will be a paid mechanic at Sawyer Chevrolet in Catskill. 

“There is no possible way I would have gotten this job without I-Term,” he said. “During I-Term, I didn’t get thrown into a cleaning position. I was a mechanic who worked on vehicles. It gave me dealership experience before I go to college, which is really important.”

Piambino will intern at the Northeastern Regional Information Center (NERIC) in Colonie. NERIC provides IT support and web hosting services for more than 137 school districts in New York.

Kested will intern at Buzz Media Solutions, a public relations firm based in Schenectady. It marks a continuation of a yearlong internship she secured with the firm for the duration of her senior year. She earned college credit for the internship.

“Tech Valley High played a huge role in obtaining this internship for me,” Kested. “The school was incredibly supportive of my nontraditional senior year schedule, and allowed me to learn in a different environment other than the classroom for my final year, for which I am very grateful.”

Kested will do work for the Electric City Innovation Center, a co-working space located in the heart of Schenectady, as well as an entrepreneurial programming series called StartUp Town Square. 

“I will have this internship before I start college, which is fairly early for students to get internships in their lives,” Kested said. “This will give me a idea of what I specifically want to study in business. Getting this exposure years before students usually do, will allow me to be more confident in myself and my future studies.”