LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Some Louisville students are getting started on their careers while in high school. It’s a partnership between the Academies of Louisville and Charter Communications.
Charter Communications is the parent company of Spectrum News.
Fern Creek High School senior Darius Coleman is among the students part of the program.
“Probably a little less than a thousand, probably about 800 to 1000. But definitely, definitely up there,” Coleman said about the number of customer calls he’s fielded since his program began last summer and it’s been a learning curve.
“I am an introverted person. Probably not so much anymore. But yeah, I was an introverted person. Doing this job definitely made me come out, come out of my shell. I’ve definitely learned to talk to people more smoothly. So it’s definitely a great experience that I have, you know, communication-wise and just other things like that just to help me in the real world,” Coleman shared.
These are skills he credits learning while working in the internship program with Charter Communications while going to school.
“So say I want to go into the tech industry, which I do plan on doing. This is great because working with tech every day, all day and every day is definitely building me toward getting more knowledge on tech,” Coleman said.
The program takes place between a student’s junior and senior year in the summer. Training Manager Marty Dapore said the students train for five weeks and for another eight weeks get support on the job. Then during the school year, they work part time.
“The students and the kids, they’re just like anyone else. And so we were able to support them and give them the same training that any other Charter representative would get,” Dapore said. “And so, what we learned was they’re really excited to be able to go out and have a professional job doing meaningful work. When you trust them with the full training, the full responsibility, it really empowers them and sets them up for success.”
Director of Academies of Louisville Kristin Wingfeld said two-thirds of the student body in the district is in the high-needs population with socio-economic challenges.
“So the opportunity for students to see what careers are out there to explore them, to understand that there’s more than what they can see in their own homes, really inspires them and gives them hope for their future and helps them write a plan that is relevant and executable that they can get themselves to a level of education and a level of income that they can really contribute and be viable members of our society,” Wingfeld said.
Plus, they have a job lined up after graduation.
“I like I like being able to see people happy and see people go on with their day. Yeah, definitely, helping people is definitely a great experience for me,” Coleman said.
The Academies of Louisville said Charter Communications also works with high school freshmen, sophomores and juniors on interviewing and resume-building skills. Charter Communications said so far 150 students have taken part in this program nationwide.