Program offers teachers summer jobs at IT companies
BYLINE: Kirstin Dorsch
ST. AUGUSTINE -- A local organization has created a program to place high school and community college teachers in summer internships in a high demand field, with the hopes those teachers will bring first-hand experience back to the classroom.
The Florida Information Technology Centers of Excellence, a St. Augustine-based nonprofit that supports technology and education, has created the Career and Technology internship programs, which will focus on information technology.
This is the program's inaugural year, though Florida IT Centers of Excellence worked with Enterprise Florida Inc. on internships last summer and studied programs around the country to determine what would work in Florida. It is collaborating on this latest program with the Florida Department of Education.
In coordination with the department, the Florida IT Centers of Excellence sent information to all high school, technology center and community college teachers.
The program is designed to give teachers hands-on experience in a business setting so that they can take it back to students, Florida IT Center Director Deborah Kobza said. Teachers are encouraged to arrange field trips and class projects based on their experiences.
"When the teacher is out there on the job, it's valuable to bring back to the classroom that real world experience and it becomes even more positive when students are out there experiencing [it]," education department spokesman Tom Butler said.
"They can enter a job area and see it in action and help them decide if that's what they want to do and confirm their commitment to their education."
Kobza said there has been an incredible response to the program, much more than she had planned. As of May 1, about 175 teachers had signed up.
"We are getting overwhelmed," she said. "I am just shocked at the interest. They are just coming from all over the state. Wow, we were surprised."
Kobza said the most participants came from Jacksonville, Miami and Tampa.
Kobza also has received a lot of interest from businesses, but only 34 had signed up for the program as of May 1. She is working on getting businesses that showed interest to commit. Florida IT Centers of Excellence has even worked out three different ways for companies to pay the teachers in order to bypass payroll issues.
"This is a call to action for business and industry because they keep raising the issue they don't have a trained work force," she said. "It's a step to help them in this process, to encourage students to choose a technology career and help teachers understand. It's building that bridge between education and business and industry."
Jacksonville-based CSX Corp. (NYSE: CSX) is one of the companies that signed up.
CSX has partnered with A. Philip Randolph Academies of Technology for about 10 years, said Bill Fountain, manager for the professional services group in CSX's human resources department. CSX has provided internships for students through the partnership.
As part of the Florida IT summer internship program, CSX created an internship position for a teacher from A. Philip Randolph. Although the details of the internship are still being worked out, Fountain said it will probably be an eight- to 10-week position to further its partnership with the school.
"This just fell right into place as a perfect way for us to participate more, for teachers to see what life is like within a big IT shop and use it in the classroom with the students." he said. "We thought it was a fantastic match."
Having a partnership with a high school technology program allows CSX to give input on the curriculum and skills that are taught, Fountain said. This is beneficial for future recruitment of students into the IT field.
"The hope is to get the teachers to look at the things that they are teaching in the classroom, that the skills are skills we need," he said. "That's a part of it too, to help from a curriculum evaluation standpoint."
Internships can last two weeks to 10 weeks. Companies must pay the teachers $15 per hour. The Florida IT Centers of Excellence plans on running the program every summer.
Teachers from all areas and skill sets can apply to the program, and although Florida IT Centers of Excellence is focusing solely on the information technology field this summer, organizers would like to expand efforts in the future.
The National Collegiate Technology Association will model a national internship program on Florida IT Centers of Excellence's program, Kobza said. The national program is expected to begin in summer 2008 and serve high-technology, high-demand fields.