The Boston PIC serves as a school-to-career intermediary for Boston Public Schools, making connections between the city’s employers and its diverse student population. In every BPS high school, PIC Career Specialists work with school leadership, guidance staff, and teachers to provide job readiness programming and career exploration experiences for students. Each spring, Career Specialists connect students to internships and jobs in private sector companies, major institutions, and community-based organizations.
Why career-connected learning?
For young people, career exploration allows students to see themselves in a variety of careers. Paid internships offer an opportunity to build critical skills that complement academic learning – skills like communication, collaboration, time management, and problem solving. Internships also allow a student to earn money, to imagine a future career, and to learn about the education and training necessary to get there.
For many Boston high school students, PIC internships are their first experience in a professional environment. PIC Career Specialists work with students to ensure that they are ready for workplace success. PIC Employer Engagement Managers work with employers and supervisors to ensure that they are prepared to supervise and mentor their interns effectively. Employers ensure that their workplaces are also learning places by partnering with students develop skills and reflect on their experiences through a work-based learning plan.
Research shows that after participating in a career-connected summer job or internship, students:
- improved attendance in high school
- reduced course failures
- higher participation in SAT
- increased high school graduation rate (5.4 percentage points)
- higher postsecondary enrollment rate (6.1 percentage points)