At Ipswich High School we offer the BRIDGE program which allows seniors to leave school for their 4th quarter and do an internship. Some students, for example, do internships at a hospital, middle and elementary schools, or in the trades.

Most seniors start their senior year by applying for college and looking where they want to spend the next 4 years of their life. Almost every senior doesn’t know what they want to do yet, so they just apply for a major that interests them. Some schools offer internships, so that way seniors can figure out what interests them and gain real world experience.

But why is the BRIDGE program a good program you might ask? Even though you leave school for the last quarter, you also gain real world experience. Most programs pay their students, and the best part is you get to leave for the last quarter of your senior year. 

For the BRIDGE program, you spend 30 hours a week at your workplace but for every AP, dual-enrollment, and VHS class you take, it will take 4 hours off of your 30 hours. Each class that is required to take to graduate will assign you work to do while you are on the program. You have weekly journal entries and timesheets that you submit. Student-athletes still attend practices and games. Additionally, if you chose to do BRIDGE, you don’t have to take a final exam for any classes. Instead, you will have a final project that you will present at presentation night that explains what you have learned from your internship.

Senior Maddie Hanson is planning on doing the BRIDGE program and she hopes to work at a hospital. When asked about what Maddie would learn from her internship she said, “I am excited to learn about my future career.” Maddie was also asked if it should be required to do an internship to graduate high school, she said, “I think internships should be an option for all seniors but not required.”

Senior Livi Gauthier is also planning to do the BRIDGE program and is hoping to do her internship at a dermatology center. “I hope to get more insight on what medical field I would want to work in the future,” Livi said. When asked if more schools should offer internships Livi said, “I think all schools should offer them.”

According to Linkedin.com, they say that internships give self-discovery, experience, confidence, networking, and transition. Self-discovery lets you discover what you like to do and what you don’t like to do. Experience allows you to have more practice in a certain area and jobs prefer to hire people who have experience. Confidence allows you to get you out in the real world and take chances. Networking helps you establish connections with people in industries that you are interested in and helps you expand your network. Transition helps you transition from school to working in the real world.

So yes, our BRIDGE program lets you leave for the last quarter of your senior year, but it does so much more. You gain experience, learn about what you want to do, make connections and begin to transition into the next chapter of your life. So if you are a senior considering the BRIDGE program or an underclassman wanting to do the BRIDGE program, do it.