Internships are game changers for youth

St. Boniface

Windsor Park Collegiate grad Isabella Fitzpatrick felt lost after graduating high school in 2024.

Seeking a plan, she recalled how some friends earned a portion of their mandatory 30 credits at the Louis Riel Arts and Technology Centre. She was intrigued by how engaged they were in their learning.

She decided to enroll in the early childhood education program at the LRATC, where she explored her passion for working with children.

Her program included an internship at Little Boo Peep Daycare, a “game-changer that helped me find purpose and focus for my future,” she said.

Internships aren’t common experiences in the high school system, despite recurring research that reveals their effectiveness in helping students identify or clarify career paths, including a 2025 National Association of Colleges and Employers study which reveals how students involved in experiential learning have stronger career outcomes than those who aren’t.

Internships trigger career-connected learning – invaluable for students to gain real life experience, begin a professional network outside school walls, and learn the nuances of workplace culture.

The only high school in LRSD that offers systemic internships is the LRATC, with its 13 applied, technical, and apprenticeship programs.

The mantra of LRATC – “Learning that Works” – underscores work and life lessons that the academic classroom simply cannot provide.

Ihuoma Ogbonna left the beaten path of Glenlawn Collegiate and joined the broadcast media program to intern at CityTV, even interviewing the mayor on an assignment. She quickly learned that “The news is on at 6 and there are no excuses.”

Joshua Hreault, from Dakota Collegiate, interned at Avenir IT in the information systems program and found the confidence to “take tickets and calls from over 80 companies… to be careful not to rush through tasks.”

Brielle Cummings, a Windsor Park grad, chose the culinary program and interned at the OEB Breakfast Company. She realized that “no one is babied, the expectations in a professional kitchen related to deadlines, pace, energy, and communication are very high.”

Collège Louis-Riel student Dan Kabasha enrolled in the plumbing program, interning with Legacy Mechanical Services, where he discovered “what employers really need from workers and the importance of communicating professionally.”

WPC student Arjun Redhu participated in two internships in the applied business management program, one with North Forge Technology Exchange, and more recently, with MLA Renée Cable’s constituency office where he “experienced how to relate to and problem-solve with the community.”

Isabella will be graduating from LRATC this June feeling “more confident and focused about the path forward,” especially after being hired by her internship partner.

The transformative learning from internships may signal a need to consider these community ‘classrooms’ as necessary pieces in every student’s high school experience.

Learn more about the power of internships at LRATC open houses on Feb. 24 and 25.