BG programs give students real-world experience | News, Sports, Jobs

These students participated in BG’s new apprenticeship program throughout their fourth year, which Chief Education Officer Joan Donnelly said was designed to “provide students with real-world experience in an area of ​​interest.” He said there was.

“By allowing students to customize their learning experiences through internships, research projects, and other hands-on endeavors, we can achieve outcomes beyond traditional classroom learning,” Donnelly said. Masu.

Chris Brown, the program’s faculty advisor, said most of the preparatory work for the internships was done by the students.

One of those students is Ryan Hagg. He credits his apprenticeship for getting into the United States Military Academy at West Point.

Noah Kelleher

“I stood out on the application because a million kids had the exact same application, the exact same SAT, as me,” Hagg said. “So just having the ability to do something like this in high school allows me to stand out.”

He interned at the Van Zandt Veterans Affairs Medical Center and used his physical therapy job as an opportunity to talk to veterans.

Hagg said his goal was to listen to veterans and solicit their opinions because he wanted to attend an academy like West Point, like his brother and uncle before him.

Mr Hagg said it was “an eye-opener”. Because while he knew PT wasn’t for him, he was “definitely interested” in a military career.

He said there was one thing that stuck with him about veterans that helped him make his decision. The veterans, most of whom are Vietnamese, typically wear hats embroidered with their unit and location.

Molly Burke

“It really struck me that that little thing, that it meant something to them,” Hug said. “If it doesn’t mean anything to you, you shouldn’t wear it. If I was going to do this and essentially give up my life and risk my life, what does it mean to them?” If it makes sense, it will make sense to me.”

Hagg wants to go into aviation and fly Apache helicopters, while Noah Kelleher, a civilian-minded senior, wants to stay on the ground and hopefully fly an equally fast plane.

Kelleher got his start toward that goal as an intern at Keller Engineers, where he worked on blueprints, designs, digitized physical files, and data backups.

He also went to inspect the bridge, but was not allowed to ride any of the equipment. Kelleher said the bridge was near Bedford and they were looking for cracks and cracks.

Kelleher said when he inspected the bridge and found it shouldn’t be open to traffic, “it was very clear.” “I don’t think bridges should be like that.”

marklyn myers

In recognition of her efforts, Kelleher was awarded a full scholarship to the Honors College at West Virginia University. He will double major in mechanical engineering and aerospace engineering, and in five years he plans to earn two degrees.

At WVU, Kelleher will join the Formula SAE team. The Formula SAE team builds race cars each year and races against other universities, such as UCLA.

“It’s bigger than a go-kart, but it’s on a higher level,” Kelleher said. “It’s not F1 level. You still go pretty fast and design it. You design everything except the engine and the wheels.”

With his degree, Kelleher could work for NASA, NASCAR, Formula 1, or become a mechanical engineer or principal engineer at a company like Tesla.

“When I was a kid, my grandfather had an old 1957 Chevrolet pickup truck that sat in his garage rusting and I was able to work with him to restore it,” Kelleher said. Told. “That’s how I got interested in cars.”

Like Hagg and Kelleher, Molly Burke credits her internship at the Capitol Hotel’s Mayfield with getting into the Culinary Institute of America.

Burke said her family is “scientific” as her father is a doctor, her mother is a scientist and her brother has a science degree. She also wanted to go into the science field, but she didn’t have much academic ability.

“When I was five years old, my dad would make sourdough bread with me and explain the science behind it,” Burke said. “When I was in the second grade, I had no idea what I wanted to do. I always cook, so my mom brought up the topic of cooking, and the two of her moments meshed together and it made sense. Ta.”

Burke had been working at Mayfield for about a year when the opportunity came up to work there during his internship. She worked as a hostess for nine months, and she started plating the food and was also responsible for desserts, breads, salads, and shipping orders.

Burke said the experience taught her about time management, as working in a restaurant is “very fast-paced.”

“I work in the kitchen, but we have two restaurants: Mayfield and Pipe Room,” Burke said. “The food comes from the same kitchen.”

Mr. Burke plans to pursue a bachelor’s degree in food business management. She then plans to take a summer off to travel before starting her master’s program in Switzerland.

Marklyn Myers will also be traveling, as part of a paid summer internship, along with state Sen. Judy Ward and others.

“I’ll be traveling all over Pennsylvania and talking to business people, but I’ll also be helping her research specific topics in modern politics,” Myers said, using AI as an example. He said while pointing it out.

Myers contacted Ward and asked if he could intern with her for practical training, but he declined because he had not yet graduated from high school. Ward did invite him to accompany him for a day and took him to Harrisburg to tour the Senate and meet with other politicians.

Still undecided between law and politics, Myers interned at the Blair County Juvenile Probation Office.

“That allowed me to really focus on what law I wanted to be a part of and what law I didn’t want to be a part of,” Myers said.

He says that working with young people is not for him and is currently exploring business law.

He said the internship also helped prepare him for life at Duquesne University, where he will study political science and psychology.

“Prepare for college by not only gaining direct experience through things you are interested in, but also preparing yourself for things you can do, such as doing internships and ways to reach certain people at the university.” “It definitely helped prepare me for the field of political science,” Myers said.

Brown said these seniors would do “almost anything” and be successful, but the apprenticeship took them to the “next level.”

“They definitely have a level of clarity that I definitely didn’t have as a high school senior,” Brown said.

Mirror Staff writer Rachel Foor can be reached at 814-946-7458.