The program was presented last year with the intent of helping students gain experience and contacts with the hope they'll join the local workforce after college.
Workforce Development coordinator Shawn Wenko said their first run with a youth internship program last year saw it in its preliminary stage, with two students interning at City Hall in the Economic Development department.
"In 2010, it'll be pretty limited again. We hope to just continue to build it up over time; I think we're setting a solid foundation for the future," said Wenko.
Last year's youth internship program was nine weeks and consisted of 30 total hours of time at City Hall in the Economic Development department. The interns were to work at least three hours each week, getting to know staff, understand what their daily responsibilities are and be involved in projects.
They were personally advised by an internship coordinator and at the end of the internship a report on their experience was due.
"It was so preliminary in 2009 that we didn't know how it was going to play out. But overall it was a very positive program and they took to the program very well," said Wenko.
Wenko said the internship program is open to high school seniors.
To qualify they must maintain a G.P.A. of at least 3.00 or higher, be able to dedicate at least three hours per week in the office and submit weekly journal entries on their experience and have a letter of reference from a teacher or counselor when they apply.
Wenko said their two interns from earlier this year, Mari Goldade and Rory Guenther, did very well and seemed to enjoy the program. He added that the two of them are off at college now.
The ultimate goal of the program, said Wenko, is "addressing the workforce needs of youth in our community so that they'll want to come back to live and work in Williston."
Wenko said a strong number of young people in the area tend to be going to college. He said once they've completed their education, have a degree in their hands and are looking for work, programs like the youth internship program hopefully will get young people to use contacts in Williston and come back. Regarding Goldade and Guenther, Wenko said their experience could help them when they graduate in a few years.
"The contacts they made with leading officials here in town could go a long way for them," said Wenko.
Wenko said retaining young people for the workforce is important to Williston's future. He said with an aging local population, there will be the need for new employees and future leaders in key industries.
"You'll likely see a lot of turnover in the next five years or so, so anything we can do to improve retention of our younger workforce is a good thing," said Wenko.
Wenko said for this year's program, they're likely to improve a few things he feels need some tweaking.
"What we'd like to do is to increase it to in the 40-50 hour area. We'd also like to try to get real solid chunks of time for them to be here," said Wenko.
He explained that the students a lot of the time came in for about an hour a day because of their busy schedules. He added that finding a away to balance between having interns there more during a day and not interfering with their schedules would help with another goal for next year.
"We'd like the interns to be able to get more involved in actual projects," said Wenko.
The tentative schedule for this year's internship program is to start organizing the next internship program beginning next month. He said this time around, they'll likely only have one intern at Economic Development so they can have more one-on-one focus with that person. Wenko said the goal is also to speak with area businesses to see if any of them wish to participate.
"This will take some time and it will be kind of preliminary again this year, but again we're building that solid foundation for what should be a good program that will continue to grow."
The application period for the program is tentatively set for January through early or mid-March.
For more information on the program, interested students who meet the qualifications or businesses interested in participating in the program are encouraged to call Workforce Development coordinator Shawn Wenko at 577-8110.
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