While many students work part-time jobs to earn extra money, some work for the simple goal of gaining some real-world experience.

An internship program at Oak Harbor High School places students in businesses and organizations throughout the city. These internships not only provides students with practical experience, but also shows them how concepts they learn in class applies to the workplace.

“It’s a way to take kids to the next step while involving the community in the education of students,” said Ken Bender, a technical drawing teacher at the high school.

He said there are approximately 50 students participating in the program this semester. They are placed at locations that include auto dealerships, the city of Oak Harbor and Whidbey Island Naval Air Station.

For two students, the internship provided more experience in using computer-aided drafting and provided some temporary employment over the summer.

“Not only did we learn how to use that, we learned a lot about civil engineering,” said Oak Harbor High School senior Daniel Knutsen, who, along with fellow senior TJ Wright, interned at the city’s engineering department since December of 2003.

The two seniors spent their internship improving their drafting skills, learned how to survey and worked on several projects at the engineering department. They surveyed two streets in connection with a water line project. They also surveyed a sewer lagoon last summer to map out any tears to the lining.

Knutsen and Wright are currently helping out with a design of Astel Street, a new roadway that will provide access to The Home Depot which is being built on Highway 20.

“The main thing they brought to the table was their attitude,” said Oak Harbor City Engineer Larry Benfield, adding that their drafting abilities were a big help to the staff.

“They seemed to have a good basic knowledge of electronic drafting,” Benfield said. Knutsen and Wright’s skills were good enough to earn a full-time job at the city last summer.

Benfield said he was originally hesitant about bringing in high school interns, but fears quickly subsided when he saw the skills they brought to the city.

Students wanting an internship have to take preparatory courses before being placed. Knutson and Wright took some computer-aided drafting coursework at the high school before heading to the city for work.

They weren’t the only ones to have a valuable experience interning in town.

Junior Matt Broderick and senior Brian Larcena have interned at Fleet Imaging at NAS Whidbey Island since the middle of September.

Both Broderick and Larcena hope their experience will provide some exposure that could be useful when they go to college to study computer animation.

“I’m interested in computers and I’m interested in photography,” Broderick said.

Currently they are working on a project developing type fonts that will be used in training materials. They are also familiarizing themselves with the photo equipment Fleet Imaging uses.

Lt. Cmdr. Rembrandt Smith at Fleet Imaging said that interns’ interest in the work is all they need to learn a wealth of information.

“All they’ve got to do is show interest then my guys will be all over them,” Smith said. “They are more than happy to teach them.”

Although computer savvy at the start of the internship, Smith said that interns had to learn about basic optics and photography skills. He added that Broderick and Larcena will go on photo shoots later in the month.

Interns normally must complete a minimum of 90 hours of work a semester to complete their internship and usually accomplish that by working several hours a week. However, some students may decide to extend their internship for a second semester, thus doubling their hours.

Bender, who also teaches computer-aided drafting and 3-D modeling, said that students at all grade levels and academic experience can participate in the internship program.

“I think it’s absolutely critical for kids to get out of the school house and try some things,” Bender said, adding that it helps alleviate confusion students may have about the next step after high school.

Besides, a high school internship helps getting into, and paying for, college. Bender said that having an internship looks good on college and scholarship applications.