American Graduate Public Media Stations Offer Students Career Exploration Opportunities

For Immediate Release on June 19, 2012

Summer internships help students connect classroom lessons with real-world work experience in broadcasting, journalism, media production

Washington, D.C. – This summer, public media stations nationwide will offer a variety of internship programs that give students an opportunity to explore and experience careers in broadcasting, communications, journalism and media production as a way to keep youth interested and engaged in education outside the classroom.

Research shows that more than 80 percent of high school dropouts say they might have stayed in school if they had more real-world learning opportunities and they understood how their class work related to their future goals.

Over the next few months, nearly 20 public radio and television stations will host internships and youth media workshops to introduce students to potential career opportunities and provide valuable work experience, as part of American Graduate: Let’s Make It Happen – a public media initiative made possible by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) to identify and implement solutions to the high school dropout crisis.

“Each year, one million students make the life altering decision to drop out of school. Many of these young people are working at jobs to help their families and often, they do not connect the importance of a diploma with opportunity in the workplace,” said Patricia Harrison, president and CEO of CPB. “This summer, public radio and television stations – locally owned and operated – are working to address this disconnect by offering internships and other summer learning programs to help students see the important relationship between their education and a promising future.”

American Graduate summer internships will enable students to learn about media production, journalism and broadcast engineering as they write, shoot and edit short documentaries, public service announcements and interstitials about the dropout crisis in their communities.

These experiences are beneficial in helping students enhance their 21st century skills—problem solving, storytelling, creative thinking, information and technology skills, and interpersonal skills—which are essential for success in today’s job market.

As part of their internship programs, several stations will also host speaker series to introduce middle and high school students to different professions in their communities. Public radio and television station interns will fulfill a variety of other roles including assisting with research of American Graduate documentaries; facilitating social media around the initiative; and supporting American Graduate teams at various stations in creating and compiling education resources, volunteer opportunities and related materials that parents, families, teachers and community members can use to encourage students to stay in school.

Learn more about stations’ summer internships and other planned activities here.

About American Graduate: Let’s Make It Happen: The public media initiative, American Graduate: Let's Make It Happen, is helping communities across America identify and implement solutions to address the high school dropout crisis. Made possible by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), the multi-year campaign is designed to raise awareness and dialogue through national and local multiplatform programming. Targeting communities with highest dropout rates, the initiative also increases local engagement and action through collaborations and partnerships, and increases student engagement through teacher professional development and classroom curricula. Public radio and television stations – locally owned and operated – reach 99% of the country over the air and have deep connections in the communities they serve. More than 600 partnerships have been formed locally through American Graduate and CPB is partnering with America's Promise Alliance and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Visit American Graduate on Facebook, Twitter or AmericanGraduate.org.

About CPB

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), a private, nonprofit corporation created by Congress in 1967, is the steward of the federal government's investment in public broadcasting. It helps support the operations of more than 1,300 locally-owned and -operated public television and radio stations nationwide, and is the largest single source of funding for research, technology, and program development for public radio, television and related online services.

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