More Indiana high schools are taking learning to the workplace

Every Tuesday, Suriah Pinner will wake up, get dressed and head to school at Providence Cristo Rey on the south side of Indianapolis.

But the high school junior doesn’t go to class. Instead, she gets on a bus to Carmel, where she’ll work for about six hours in the accounting department at Integrity Fiber , a paper and recycling company.

Providence Cristo Rey places all of its students into an internship, where they work one day a week during school hours.

Accounting is not Pinner’s dream job. She wants to go to medical school and eventually, become a general surgeon. But she likes getting to explore a different path and learn what a professional role might look like for her.

“Now I get to see a different range of options, and really weigh what’s good for me and what’s not,” the 17-year-old said.

In a few years, it’s likely more Indianapolis students will be getting work experience. Indiana recently changed its high school graduation requirements to encourage students to think about what’s next for them after high school — whether it’s college, public service or employment.

State officials say these changes make it possible for more schools to think creatively about what a student’s success could look like and shift resources to accommodate them.

“What has happened for so long, schools have said, ’Well, I can’t do that because the schedule doesn’t let me,” Paul Ketcham , assistant secretary of education, told Mirror Indy in September. “What diplomas now do is signal to the field, ‘It’s OK to think outside the box. It’s OK to be creative. It’s OK to be bold and take chances because we want you to give kids opportunities.’”

But implementing those opportunities comes with significant hurdles. More students will get work experience and exposure to the types of soft skills that are hard to teach such as communication and professionalism. But there’s also the ever-present issue of transportation. How will students get to work, and how will their schools pay for it?

Schools with existing student employment programs — from private schools like Providence Cristo Rey to large public districts like Warren Central — have already addressed these challenges, and could provide a roadmap for what students can expect in years to come.

In 2024 , the state approved sweeping changes to high school that encouraged students to think about what life could look like after graduation.

Starting with the class of 2029, all Indiana students will have the opportunity to add stackable endorsements to their diplomas — the state calls these “seals” — to show readiness for a certain path after high school.

Depending on the seal, those could require anywhere from 75 to 650 hours of work experience. That could include anything from an internship a few hours a week to a rigidly structured apprenticeship program.

Both students and schools have incentive to get students to complete these seals. For example, students who complete the employment honors plus seal — which requires the highest amount of work hours — are eligible for direct admission into union apprenticeships.

For the enrollment honors plus seal, students will have to complete at least 75 hours of work experience, often while completing college credit. For their efforts, they’ll be automatically accepted into the state’s public universities, including Purdue and IU.

Meanwhile, schools will get $2,495 for each student who completes the highest level of employment or enrollment seal under the new funding model.

Schools who’ve already implemented these programs could benefit from being ahead.

Ketcham told Mirror Indy earlier this year the state is planning to introduce what he called a “lighthouse” model. Officials will look for schools that have successfully offered work-based learning and promote their tactics so other schools can better develop their own programs.

“By finding those lighthouses across the state of Indiana regionally, other schools can beg, borrow, and steal pieces that work for them,” he said.

Part of the state’s goal in requiring more work-based learning is to help students get a head start on pursuing their passions.

That’s been the case for Warren Central senior Malak Abo Salha.

Abo Salha, 18, had been interested in medicine since she was young. When she found out about an opportunity to learn more about healthcare by working in a local optometrist’s office a few hours a week, she jumped at the chance.

Since August, Abo Salha has left school early on Thursday afternoons to work at the eye clinic. She’s already gotten some hands-on experience helping administer vision tests and eye exams.

Preparing to help with an eye exam for the first time was stressful, but it was also exciting. The experience has only made her more sure that she wants to pursue a career in medicine.

“It just shows me how my future is gonna be,” Abo Salha said.

But not every student falls in love with their work experience, so officials are adamant that work-based learning needs to be flexible. That way students can figure out what they like and don’t like without locking themselves into a path they’ll ultimately hate.

At Victory College Prep , a charter school on Indy’s southeast side, all students complete an internship their senior year. The application process starts junior year and students are matched with a local employer that partners with the school.

Staff try to match students to a job that lines up with their interests, but that’s not always possible.

What often happens, too, is that a student may find they’re not as passionate about a career as they thought. For example, a student may take an internship at a local medical clinic, only to discover they’re scared of needles.

Rahul Jyoti , Victory College Prep’s director of readiness, doesn’t view that as a failure. Instead, he said, it’s a low-stakes way to find out what you do and don’t like — and maybe save some time and tuition money down the road.

“All of them are going to have a job someday,” Jyoti said. “It’s still a good experience to be at an internship, whether or not it’s perfectly aligned to what you want to do.”

There’s a lot of logistical factors that make work-based learning possible.

But studies show that one of the biggest barriers to implementing work experience for high schoolers across the board is transportation.

Many high school students aren’t old enough to drive, or don’t have their own cars. Even if students do have their license, having a car of their own is another matter.

Schools have addressed that challenge by providing transportation. At Providence Cristo Rey and Victory College Prep, students take buses to their internships and back.

But that’s easier said than done for a large public school like Warren Central. Money is tight for public schools, and the state doesn’t directly fund transportation to jobs and internships for Warren, said Steve Rogers, director of the Walker Career Center at Warren Central.

Since January 2023, though, the school’s Walker Career Center has driven students who need transportation to their off-site internships. The center got a van donated from a local dealership, and uses funds from Warren Arts and Education Foundation , a nonprofit that supports the school district, to pay a driver to transport students to their workplaces off-site. Students then find their own way home.

It’s a bit of a scramble to find funding, but providing transportation has made off-site work experiences possible for a lot of students.

“Kids getting to the job is the biggest hurdle, so we eliminated that hurdle to get this working,” Rogers said.

Getting students to a job is one thing, but preparing them to succeed in that job is another entirely.

But for some schools, that process is already in place. At Providence Cristo Rey, new students start getting prepared for work as soon as they walk in the door. At the southside Catholic school, the wages students earn from working help cover their tuition because Providence Cristo Rey exclusively serves low-income families.

First-year and new students attend a week-and-a-half-long work bootcamp, called Corporate Office Readiness and Enrichment . Students learn about everything from how to organize an Outlook calendar to interpersonal and communication skills like eye contact, handshakes and public speaking.

The workshop ends with a job fair, where students meet with employers and put what they’ve learned to the test.

Expertise in communication and professionalism are also called soft skills. Those skills are generally important to career success, but not taught directly, since it’s assumed people will pick it up through experience.

But for students who are as young as 14, being taught how to communicate and behave in a professional environment is key. That way, once they’ve gotten some experience, those skills develop naturally.

“That’s what sets students apart, the soft skills that they learn,” said Stephanie Hood , director of Providence Cristo Rey’s corporate work study program. “They’re having conversations. They’re seeing how adults interact.”

Just being in that environment can completely change how a student feels about themselves and their future.

When Pinner first started working as a first-year student, she was shy. It was hard to talk to her colleagues or speak up in meetings.

Three years in, she’s far more confident, talking with ease with her mentor and others at work. When she’s there, she enjoys getting to explore a different side of her personality.

“I could be a whole different person at work,” she said. “I could really be the adult I want to be.”

Mirror Indy reporter Carley Lanich contributed to this story.

Claire Rafford covers higher education for Mirror Indy in partnership with Open Campus.

This story was originally published by Mirror Indy and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.