Fifty-nine Mahopac High School seniors will participate in the District’s Wise Individualized Senior Experience (WISE) Program this year, learning outside the classroom through valuable internships.
“The WISE Program provides an amazing opportunity for our students to gain real-life experience in a field they are interested in,” said MHS Principal Patrick Keevins. “They can make connections and build relationships with the professionals and leaders of these fields. There are countless stories of alumni that have used this program as a springboard to a successful career.”
Seniors aren’t cutting their curriculum short to participate in the program. To be eligible to take part in the internship program in the second semester of their senior year, students must condense the entire senior English and Social Studies curricula into the first semester.
“We’ve been working together all year,” said senior Abbie Kreiner. “We worked with our teachers on the condensed curriculum and helped each other with all of the paperwork for our internships… We’ll all still have some classes, but we’ll be working for at least 10 hours each week at our internships after school.”
Mahopac students will have internships at hospitals, engineering firms, production studios, and local businesses. Some students will return to Mahopac Schools to help in the very classrooms where they were students almost a decade ago.
“I’m going to be interning with my old fourth-grade teacher at Lakeview Elementary,” said senior Kaitlyn Pearsall. “I reached out by email in May of last year and I met the class in the Fall. I want to teach after I graduate, and I’m excited to get experience working directly with the kids.”
Brooke Geller has been a prolific audio and video student in her time at Mahopac and will be diving into the world of film production at DePalma Productions in Scarsdale alongside fellow WISE Program student Isaiah Gordon-Nicholson.
“Another student went to DePalma last year. She got me into WISE and helped me get my foot in the door at DePalma,” Geller said. “I’ve already been to photo shoots and sets where they filmed commercials. I can’t wait to work on set, setting up and breaking down for shoots.”
Lauren Galarza will go to Manhattan for her internship at Wingate Law Firm on Lexington Avenue. She highlighted a critical benefit that the WISE Program offers students; the ability to make a more informed decision about their future.
“I’m going to be working under the managing paralegal for the firm,” Galarza said. “I think that I want to practice law. I’m hoping to major in Philosophy at Fordham University but I’m really excited to get some hands-on experience so I can find out if I’d really want to take this path in the future.”