Through internships, City View students explore their passions

CEDAR RAPIDS — City View Community High School junior Jackson DeVore is looking for ways to improve viability and use of Cedar Rapids’ downtown skywalks and the city’s bike trails as part of his internship at City Hall.

The 17-year-old took his interest in city planning and reached out to city officials to inquire about an internship as a part of his studies at City View — a project-based learning school in the Cedar Rapids Community School District.

This is the second year students have been learning at the new City View, located in the heart of downtown on the first floor of the Metro Economic Alliance, 501 First St. SE in Cedar Rapids. For the first time, though, every student at City View will have the opportunity to complete an internship.

To get internship-ready, students must score proficient on a “working with others rubric,” said Amanda Zhorne, a community partner developer with the Cedar Rapids Metro Economic Alliance working with the school district. They learn about the different generations in the workforce, how to be respectful, how to hold a conversation, how to introduce themselves and give a proper handshake and create a resume.

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“I get to learn more about the city, and I’ve been here my whole life,” said DeVore, who began his internship in mid-October. “I’m learning more about a field I might be passionate about. I get to learn what I do or don’t want to do. Instead of wasting a bunch of time in college to learn I don’t like it, I can learn I don’t like it for free.”

Students take an intensive survey that identifies their career interests and addresses any concerns they have about interning, like if they need transportation or different clothing or gear to meet the workplace’s dress code. The survey also addresses what type of work environment they are comfortable in — loud, quiet, stressful or laid-back.

Currently, there are 24 students interning with 17 partner organizations. More students are expected to be placed in internships in the coming weeks. The internships are unpaid, and students work several hours a week for academic credit. There are 100 students enrolled at City View.

Interns have an adviser at City View who checks in on their progress and makes sure the internship remains a good fit for both the student and the business partner.

Haley Sevening, a planner for the city and who is overseeing Devore’s internship at City Hall, said city planning isn’t something a lot of people know about, “especially at a young age.” She was impressed with DeVore’s interest when he reached out.

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“For myself and several of us in this department, we didn’t know that planning was an option until after we completed our undergraduate degrees or, for even some, later in life,” Sevening said. “I don’t think that’s uncommon in this field. To have the interest of a young person in this field who is our future, that’s really exciting,.”

DeVore is “awesome and a go-getter” as an intern, Sevening said. “I can give him a project, and he’ll just run with it.”

Since a lot of the work entails working on a computer in a cubicle, Sevening is making an effort to take DeVore to see other departments in the city. This week, they went to the City Services Center to talk with traffic engineers.

“It’s not directly related to the work he’s currently doing for us in community development, but it’s giving him opportunities to see how the city functions,” Sevening said.

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As more students embark on internships, more community partners are needed, Zhorne said. The alliance and district are looking for partners in health care, trade fields like construction and welding and more science and engineering-based opportunities.

“Really, we need a little of everything, but those came up repeatedly with student interests,” Zhorne said.

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Zhorne also owns Craft’d, a coffee shop in downtown Cedar Rapids, where City View sophomore Sophie Strempke, 16, is interning.

Through her internship, Strempke is gaining skills in math, customer service, collaboration, organization, punctuality, attention to detail and confidence, said Tara Troester, the Cedar Rapids district’s career and technical education content lead.

Kinley Chensvold, 15, a sophomore at City View, is interning at the school district’s Educational Leadership Support Center with Troester. They are working to create a Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps — or JROTC, a program sponsored by the U.S. Armed Forces that develops critical thinking skills and provides lessons in leadership, health and wellness, physical fitness, first aid, geography, American history and government. The goal is for the program eventually to be presented to the Cedar Rapids school board to consider adopting as curriculum at one of the district’s high schools.

Troester offered Chensvold the internship after a round of mock interviews at City View where they found a shared passion to start a JROTC. Chensvold plans to apply to attend either the U.S. Naval Academy and U.S. Coast Guard Academy after high school.

Next month, the pair are visiting Des Moines Public Schools to learn more about its JROTC program to possibly replicate in Cedar Rapids.

Through the internship, Chensvold is gaining skills in English Language Arts by drafting proposals, writing emails and communicating verbally, and eventually math as she begins working on the budget for a JROTC program, among other things, Troester said.

Chensvold said getting to explore her career interests at City View is “preparing me for my future rather than making me grow up too fast.”

“Being in a work environment, meeting my colleagues is so awesome. I’m surrounded by adults. I say ‘good morning,’ and it’s amazing to hear their stories and how they chose this path for themselves,” Chensvold said.

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