New Student-Created Digital Map Helps Identify Possible Internships, Partners

Student internships are one of the most effective and popular career-preparation programs and now a digital map created by two Kearny Science, Connections and Technology (SCT) students will make matching businesses and students easier.

The SCT students, Pedro Dominguez and Kaitlin Davis, use industry standard software to map all career technical education programs at the middle and high schools in the district and the corresponding businesses surrounding the schools.

Finding these nearby businesses will make it easier for students, teachers and staff to approach the companies about getting involved in student internship programs. The proximity to the school means students can easily walk to the business.

In their second year of GIS and Global Technologies, Pedro and Kaitlin used Business Analyst, an ESRI software, to extract the business information around each school from government databases. They then used their digital design skills to edit the needed industry sector symbols and import them into ArcGIS, another industry standard software, and apply them to their map.

This mapping will better identify the opportunities for student internships, job shadows and mentorships for the career technical education programs at the schools.

Since the course is articulated with Mesa Community College, Pedro and Kaitlin have a chance to earn not only high school credit for the class, but college credits also. For more information, please contact Corri Burgess, CCTE Teacher, at cburgess@sandi.net.