Nearly 100 high school students will get a jump start on their careers this summer as part of the Port of Seattle’s summer high school internship program.
“We’ve heard a lot about the shrinking middle class,” said Port Commissioner Tom Albro. “So the Port is stepping up our efforts to support family-wage jobs and to make sure there is a pipeline of trained workers for these kinds of high-demand, high-skill jobs.”
In addition to the 70 teens who will work at Port facilities, another 20 will work with private manufacturing and maritime-related employers. Students from the Career-Technical Education (CTE) programs at Seattle’s Rainier Beach and Cleveland High Schools will be recruited. The Port is asking local businesses to contribute by hiring the 20 interns for the summer.
“Internships can pave the way for a young person’s career path,” said Representative Eric Pettigrew. “We want to encourage them to get experience in the maritime and manufacturing sector, which can lead to jobs making an average of over $70,000 a year.”
There are also opportunities to explore family-wage careers in aviation and maritime by working at Sea-Tac Airport and within the Port’s Marine Maintenance Department. The Port is working with the City of Seattle’s Youth Employment Initiative to fill almost half of the available internships. A dozen of those interns will be taught how to design and build SharePoint solutions to solve real business problems.
“It’s our responsibility to prepare our youth for their future,” said Danial Gallagher, Interim Director of STEM and Arts at Seattle Public Schools. “Our community’s economy provides abundant opportunities in high-skill careers that provide productive livelihoods, but if we don’t prepare students for these careers, we effectively deny them access to these opportunities.”
