Springboard to success: KIPP Indy Legacy High School launches internship program

“You have to speak your mind,” Michael Scott said.

Scott is a 2024 graduate of KIPP Indy Legacy High School and an intern through the school’s new L.E.A.D. Project, which stands for learn, expose, achieve and develop.

“When I got used to (speaking up at work), it became fun,” Scott said.

The team at Brulin Holding Company, a chemical specialty manufacturer in Martindale Brightwood, helped Scott build the confidence to communicate in the workplace. During his internship at Brulin, Scott worked in regulatory, purchasing and human resources.

Scott was eager to continue learning as he made the transition from high school.

“I wanted to see how I would be in a true business space,” Scott said. “I wanted to see how well I communicated with people, and I just really wanted to improve on my skills before I was able to enter into the real workforce.”

It was challenging at first, but he said the team helped him communicate better and made him feel comfortable asking questions.

Liesl McWilliams, CEO of Brulin, said one of their objectives was giving students an opportunity to talk and have a better understanding of different facets of their business.

Working with high school students meant devoting more time to teaching and exposing them to what the various departments do, but McWilliams said the extra time was part of their overall commitment to the community.

“We feel it’s very important given that we’re an employer here in this area to help support the Martindale Brightwood community, and our way of doing that is making a commitment to KIPP,” McWilliams said.

Two of Brulin’s six summer interns were KIPP students. The internship lasted six weeks and culminated in a final presentation.

“We all took such pride in seeing and hearing about how they grew as people,” McWilliams said.

In addition to the work experience, Brulin also provided the interns with a series of speakers on topics like time management, teamwork, resilience and the art of negotiation. Their goal was to prepare the interns for whatever comes next.

“It comes down to being as prepared as you can for your role in the future, whatever area that happens to be,” McWilliams said. “It’s developing life skills that will help them in their future.”

Scott plans to become a therapist or social worker. He valued the support from Brulin and KIPP.

Scott said Richardo Wallace, associate director of Career Integration and Readiness at KIPP, came to his final presentation and checks on him all the time.

Wallace said they were ready to support students in any way needed, including providing clothing or transportation and sitting down with students along the way.

“We want this to be a good, positive experience for everybody,” Wallace said.

Wallace and Dr. YeVonne Jones, the managing director of KIPP Forward, developed the L.E.A.D. Project internship program to help students explore careers while getting hands-on experience.

Wallace brings in speakers throughout the school year to talk to the students about future career pathways and introduce them to different professions, but some of the school’s recent graduates asked for even more.

“They said (they) needed more opportunities to be able to get out of the (school) building to explore, to work, to have job-shadowing, to have internships,” Jones said.

Working alongside KIPP’s Business Council, a collective of local businesses that partner with the school, Wallace and Jones then got to work creating a playbook for this new internship initiative.

Along with Brulin, the Business Council includes Cummins, Roche, Lilly, Oak Street Health, the Children’s Museum and 1150 Academy.

Over the last two years, KIPP has worked with the Business Council to form these partnerships, said Martha Cortes, the chief partnership officer at KIPP. From family engagement events, mock interviews and STEM bootcamps to building mock roller coasters, the Business Council’s efforts have expanded.

“The Business Council started with this idea of (asking), ‘How does the business community engage in K-12 education?’ to now (asking), ‘What exactly are the highest-level strategies for ensuring career exposure to students in an authentic and rigorous way?’” Cortes said.

With L.E.A.D., the council has now added paid internships to their offerings. 19 students in grades 10 and up participated this year.

Wallace and Jones said they would like to see the program grow with host sites that can provide professional experiences at the high school level.

“We have to find people that are willing to help mold and shape (students) and give them opportunities to learn from mistakes that they’re probably going to make,” Wallace said.

He joined with the host sites to develop unique work-based learning agreements that detailed the goals and benefits for the students.

“There are things we want the students to get from participating in our internship program that we think will be springboards for them and skills that they can take and transfer with them regardless of whatever it is they decide to do once they’ve left here,” Wallace said.

Soft skills such as communication and collaboration are key, Cortes said, and so is being able to form authentic relationships with trusted adults.

“There are certain things that I think our students can better internalize if they have other adults in their lives who are really providing that context,” Cortes said.

Further, she said building bonds with professionals who share their racial identity or who come from similar backgrounds can help them see themselves in that space. It can also give them agency to decide which career opportunities are best suited for them.

“This internship … coming from high school, it really did help and motivate me and gets me really excited for my future,” Scott said. “To see what my future may be able to hold, it’s really exciting.”

The program is open to potential new host organizations that have high school developmental level opportunities. Interested parties can reach out to Richardo Wallace for more information.

Contact Editor-in-Chief Camike Jones at 317-762-7850 or camikej@indyrecorder.com.