MYRA VAUGHN COURTESY PHOTO Bill Wareham, plant manager for the Caithness Energy Center in Yaphank, goes over blueprints for the site with Longwood senior Matthew Kraniak, who interned at the plant during the fall semester.

When Matthew Kraniak, a student at Longwood High School, entered his senior year, he had no idea what he wanted to major in at college. After a semester-long internship at Caithness Long Island Energy Center, he’s now confident he wants to major in mechanical engineering, and one day even work at Caithness.

Under Longwood’s internship and work-experience program, in which 60 junior and senior students participate, students can earn school credit for 150 hours of paid work experience and 81 hours of internship experience, which is often unpaid.

Caithness, which opened last August, began its internship program this fall semester, inviting just two students from local schools, selected by school administrators, to intern at their facility.

“When we envisioned this plant, we envisioned ourselves integrating into the community,” said Lawrence Britt, construction manager for Caithness. “We wanted to give young high school students some practical field experience.”

Attending the plant once a week for three hours, Matthew, 17, of Shirley, has learned about energy transmission, how power is marketed, how computers control the entire plant and how energy can be altered to not hurt the environment.
While Matthew, who interns with another student, from Patchogue-Medford High School, doesn’t do actual field work, he doesn’t just piddle around the facility. The afternoons he spends there are filled with hands-on learning, and future interns will likely accompany mechanics on jobs in the field.

“They don’t just come and sit in a room looking at papers,” Mr. Britt said. “It’s somewhat intensive.”

Sheila Pawlowski, school-to-career coordinator at Longwood who chose Matthew for the position at Caithness, said internships are mutually beneficial, as students get a taste of the real world and employers derive a sense of the next crop of potential employees.

“[Internships] sometimes get students a part-time job over the summer and good references for college,” she said. “And it gives [employers] access to new candidates for jobs.”

Mr. Britt said his two student interns at Caithness have reaped myriad benefits from their internships.

“They’ve got a better understanding of what an engineer does and they’ve got a good sense of different employment opportunities,” Mr. Britt said. “I hope I opened their eyes to that and let them see the opportunities that exist in this economy on Long Island.”

Another Longwood senior, Ashley Powell, 17, of Middle Island, interned at Atlantis Marine World in Riverhead this past spring. She worked in the private aquarium’s education program once a week for seven hours, giving lectures to the public about the animals. She said public speaking was a former foe of hers, but this internship changed that.

“When I first got there I was afraid of people,” she said. “But as I was there, I began to talk more and more to people and I actually got to build up my self-confidence.”

She also learned a great deal about exotic animals like the African black-footed penguin, the sand tiger shark and the stingray. Aquarium employers were so impressed with her, they offered her a paid, part-time summer job. Ashley returned as an intern this fall, working in the fish department, caring for the fish and learning about fish behavior.

This internship has influenced her decision to major in pre-veterinarian medicine in college, and she dreams of becoming a marine veterinarian.

Matthew said his internship has also been instrumental in helping him figure out the direction he’ll take when he gets to college, which he hopes will be the University of Rhode Island.

“They helped me figure out what I want to go for when I get to college,” he said. “They really set me up.”

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