COLUMBUS, Ohio—Thousands of jobs in the fields of engineering and information technology lie vacant in the state of Ohio.

With such a large need and no one to fill them, organizations around the state are working to turn that around.

One school district is doing it by helping local businesses discover future employees. 

• Local engineering and IT firms fund the internships
• Six-week program
• 38 students interning at various companies this summer

The Columbus City Schools internship program places students at companies like AEP, COTA, and CCI Engineering Services. They, like so many other companies need employees with high science, technology, engineering and math skills.

The goal is to expose students to high demand jobs, while helping to develop a workforce for tomorrow in engineering and information technology fields.

20-year-old Julia Kurian works as a part-time administrative assistant at CCI Engineering Services. It might not look like she does much, but with the stroke of a few keys, she helps to make sure people get paid.

“I'll get an email that says, ‘hey, can you add this person to a certain project number?’ So, if I don't do this and they don't have a project number to assign their hours to, the accountant will come to me… and indicates, ‘like hey, you didn't assign them to an hour,’ so I don't know where to bill their hours to or how they're gonna get paid,” said Kurian.

Kurian is a student at Ohio State now. But she started out as an intern a few years ago.

38 other students from Columbus City Schools got that same chance this summer to intern at local engineering and IT firms and they're getting paid to do it.

Right now, there's about 3,000 jobs open for software developers alone in the state of Ohio.

By working at companies like this, it's helping to fill some of those gaps, one intern at a time.

For a number of students, they're not only sharpening their STEM skills, but their communication skills. 

"On the computer, I work with a bunch of technology stuff so I don't really know how to do it,” said Genevieve Eversole, student.  “Normally I just try to figure it out by myself, so I have to ask questions and a lot of questions ‘cause it can be really, really confusing."

16-year-old Destiny Hardy is a first-year intern. She's developing a basic system to help CCI process payroll in an easier way. 

She's got that down; but oddly enough, this job is also helping her not to rely on technology so much, especially when it comes to improving her writing. 

"I need to learn how to do that myself because if I don't… and what if I get a regular laptop that doesn't have it, I'm doing it on the, like a program that I'm not used too, it'll be difficult for me to get used to it because I'm used to something doing it for me," said Hardy.

Kurian, wants to be a project manager. She's learned a lot too.

"What I've learned most of all, is that it takes a lot to be a company and every person is important and every person in the company makes the company. So don't take a single person for granted because everyone has value," said Kurian.

And the value these students bring is what Pegeen Cleary-Potts, the executive director of Career and Technical Education, says is impacting the companies in a big way.

"Having that younger generation come in, it made people really want to come into work and to teach their skill to the next generation. So, you saw some cultural shifts on both sides," Cleary-Potts said.

And for those who really impress the companies they intern for, doors are often opened wider for them.

“Most of the employers will offer the student employment during their college career," said Cleary-Potts. “Some of the companies, for example, Columbus City, has an employer benefit where they help pay for college. The State of Ohio does the same. So, it allows parents and students the opportunity of alternate funding for college education."

As the program continues to grow, school officials look forward to connecting more students and employers as they seek to fill the stem gap in Ohio.

Once students complete the internship, they receive a $1200 stipend.

Local engineering and IT firms help to fund the internships.

So far, more than 300 students have gone through the internship program.