Written By: Jennifer McDaniel, Chief Operations Officer

How High School Internships Build Career Readiness: Lessons from Southern California’s Water Leaders Academy

When one Compton Unified School District student told her family that she would spend part of the summer at the Water Replenishment District, they had a practical question: What would she actually be doing there?

“I told my parents we were going to WRD, and they asked what we were doing, if I was cleaning,” the student intern recalled. “I told them we were presenting, networking, and learning from professionals in water.”

It is a funny exchange, but also a revealing one.

For many students and families, the work of a public water agency is largely invisible. So are the engineers, environmental scientists, communications professionals, information technology specialists, administrators, and system operators who help keep safe water flowing across Southern California.

That began to change this summer for 20 Compton Unified students who participated in the inaugural Water Leaders Academy, a two-week high school internship experience hosted by the Water Replenishment District.

The partnership also reflects the Compton Unified School District Board of Education’s commitment to leadership, innovation, and creating meaningful opportunities for students to explore future careers.

The academy showed what can happen when students are invited to do more than observe. They entered a professional setting, built relationships, practiced presenting, and learned how a major Southern California industry operates.

What is work-based learning?

Work-based learning is an instructional approach that connects classroom education with authentic workplace experience.

According to the U.S. Department of Education’s Work-Based Learning Toolkit, strong work-based learning programs share three core features: they align classroom and workplace learning, allow students to apply academic and employability skills, and provide support from educators or workplace mentors (Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education).

In plain language, a successful internship gives students real opportunities to practice, contribute, ask questions, receive feedback, and reflect on what they have learned.

A workplace location alone does not make an internship meaningful. Design does.

Why do high school internships matter?

High school internships help students understand how their interests, classroom learning, and developing skills connect to real occupations.

Summer is an especially important entry point. In July 2025, 21.1 million Americans ages 16 to 24 were employed. The youth labor force grew by 1.9 million between April and July as students pursued summer work and recent graduates entered the labor market (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics).

Many young people gain valuable first-job experience in industries such as hospitality and retail. In July 2025, 25 percent of employed young people worked in leisure and hospitality, while 17 percent worked in retail (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics).

Those jobs can build communication, reliability, teamwork, and customer-service skills. Career-connected internships can add another layer by introducing students to industries and professional roles they may not encounter in their families, neighborhoods, or schools.

For a student who has never met an environmental scientist, engineer, water-system operator, or public-sector communications professional, simply seeing those roles up close can make them feel more reachable.

What can students learn from a water-industry internship?

The water sector includes far more than pipes, pumps, and treatment facilities.

The California Department of Water Resources describes water careers as spanning system operations, maintenance, research, climate planning, drought, flooding, and water availability. The department also points to Southern California partnerships designed to introduce high school students to careers in water and energy (California Department of Water Resources).

Its student employment resources identify fields including accounting, biology, business administration, civil engineering, communications, computer science, environmental science, geography, journalism, law, and information technology (California Department of Water Resources).

That range matters for career exploration.

A student may arrive thinking a water agency is relevant only to someone interested in engineering. After meeting professionals, seeing different departments, and practicing workplace communication, that same student may begin considering environmental science, public policy, technology, administration, or community engagement.

The purpose is not to persuade every student to pursue a water career. It is to make the range of possibilities visible.

What do employers gain from hosting student interns?

Employers sometimes worry that hosting high school interns will require more time and capacity than their teams can spare.

That concern is reasonable. A high-quality internship requires planning, supervision, clear expectations, meaningful activities, and adults who are willing to explain not only what they do, but why it matters.

The Water Replenishment District hosted a large student cohort through a new academy format. According to Janel Ancayan of the Water Replenishment District, the students rose to the occasion.

“This was our first time hosting a large cohort with a new format, but Tomorrow’s Talent staff’s professionalism and expertise made us feel supported,” Ancayan said. “The Compton Unified interns completely blew it out of the water, pun intended, with the inaugural Water Leaders Academy.”

Her observation highlights an important feature of effective employer partnerships: organizations do not have to build every part of an internship program alone.

For the Water Leaders Academy, Tomorrow’s Talent supported academy setup, student recruitment and selection, and employer-of-record services. That structure helped the Water Replenishment District and Compton Unified focus on student learning and the workplace experience.

Employers also gain a clearer view of emerging talent. Students bring new questions, fresh perspectives, and a useful test of how well an organization communicates its work to the public. Internship programs can also help employers introduce young people to essential occupations that are often misunderstood or overlooked.

How can schools extend internship learning?

The final day of an internship should not be the final day of learning.

Schools can help students name the skills they practiced, connect workplace activities to academic subjects, and explain their growth in professional language.

For example, a student might say, “I talked to people at the internship.” Through reflection, that experience can become networking, active listening, workplace communication, relationship-building, and professional confidence.

The federal work-based learning framework specifically identifies reflection as part of a comprehensive experience. It recommends helping students connect authentic workplace tasks with classroom instruction and think carefully about their learning process (Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education).

That follow-through does not have to be complicated. Students might create a short presentation, update a résumé, add an entry to a career portfolio, discuss the experience with a counselor, or identify a class that supports their next step.

Employers can contribute by offering specific feedback, describing career pathways, returning for classroom visits, hosting jobsite tours, or welcoming future internship cohorts.

What makes a high school internship successful?

A successful high school internship gives students meaningful exposure, supportive mentorship, opportunities to participate, and time to reflect.

The Water Leaders Academy offers a practical Southern California example. In just two weeks, 20 Compton Unified students encountered a professional industry, practiced career-readiness skills, and began to see workplace possibilities more clearly.

The larger lesson is shared by schools and employers.

Students benefit when educators open doors to career exploration and help them make sense of what they experience. Employers benefit when they give young people meaningful access to professional environments and allow them to contribute. Community partners can help create the structure that makes those connections manageable.

Across Southern California, there is room for more schools and employers to participate in high school internships and work-based learning partnerships. A two-week experience will not answer every career question, but it can help a student begin asking better ones.

Sometimes, that is where career readiness starts.