11th Grade Stars Gain Real-World Experience During Internship Week - Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders

The Class of 2025 started the month of February with a unique experience. This year, over 120 juniors spent the week at more than 40 sites with companies and organizations all over Austin during junior internship week. The junior internship program involves a weeklong internship for students to experience and learn more about potential STEM career options.

Our Star students take on a real-world project or task that helps make the experience as interns as authentic as possible. The program is one of the most influential the Ann Richards School offers its students because it allows students to figure out what they might like or even dislike as a potential career choice. Learning more about career options helps direct our Stars when they are seniors to find the right college fit so they will graduate with a degree in a field they want to pursue.

Before junior internship week, the juniors prepare by learning professional skills in their STARS class, like resume writing, proper interview skills, office attire and etiquette, and professional presentation skills. From there, internship partners participate in a day of interviews on campus. Students from the junior class select their top organizations of interest and put their interview skills to the test, answering questions about the potential projects they’ll work on during internship week.

Thanks to your support of the Ann Richards School Foundation, internship week is a life-changing experience for the Stars so they gain leadership skills in areas and careers where women are traditionally underrepresented.