Juvenile Court and Community Schools, Integrated Technology Services Partner on Internship Program for Students

When you’re a student, being able to see yourself in a job or imagine a career in a particular field is important.

The technology field can be especially challenging to enter, which is why Juvenile Court and Community Schools (JCCS) and SDCOE’s Integrated Technology Services (ITS) division recently collaborated on a nine-week paid internship program for students attending JCCS.

This past fall, they piloted the program with two students – Mariah, a senior at 37ECB, and Faith, a senior in the Project SAFE independent study program.

“There’s a need at the federal level to educate families about technology and cybersecurity and also educate the next generation of the job force, and that’s trickling down to the local level,” said Andrew Baldwin, a project manager in ITS. “It's also very much about representation and connecting underrepresented groups with careers in IT.”

The internship provided experience in all areas of information technology with a heavy focus on cybersecurity. The students spent time learning about the help desk, data systems, software development, network systems, the data center, cybersecurity, and project management. Each week, they had the opportunity to apply their learning through projects and activities. 

Mariah said she didn’t know much about technology or cybersecurity when she started the program but was interested in the paid learning opportunity and eager to learn new things.

“Cybersecurity is within every department and there is such a need because there are so many vulnerabilities,” Mariah said. “I did not know that hackers could get access to your phone camera!”

Mariah was particularly excited about her chance to draft and send a phishing email to friends and SDCOE employees, some of whom almost fell for her convincing story.

“You might be flying past your email, not reading it, and click on the link you’re not supposed to press, and just by one press, you could give me access to everything,” she said. 

The goal is to give JCCS student interns the best opportunities and expose them to high-paying careers in tech, said Peyri Herrera, senior director with the Enterprise Project Management Office.

“Mariah and Faith have been amazing with the energy and attention they’ve given to this, and their curiosity,” she said. “Everyone lights up with these students. It’s really cool to see our organization pull together and rally around them.” 

Faith said she learned a lot about security and about herself during the internship, noting she enjoyed the social interaction with the teams. 

“I appreciated the opportunity to be a part of this program,” she said. 

The internship is currently structured for about 20 hours per week. Students attending JCCS have flexible schedules or participate in independent study, which allows them to complete the required number of hours. 

While ITS and JCCS took lead on developing the internship program, making it happen involved multiple departments at SDCOE, including Human Resources Services, Business Services, and Innovation. The students had to apply for the internship and go through the complete hiring process prior to beginning the program. 

“We’re proud that this aligns with the North Star goal and supports our No. 1 district,” Herrera said. 
Mariah and Faith both said one of the most challenging things was learning the tech-related language. Mariah said she became more familiar with it through the course of the internship and started applying it to what she learned and the activities she participated in. 

Mariah’s familiarity with the language was evident as she explained the activities she participated in during the internship, from taking apart a motherboard, seeing how the student information system works, to coding and creating her own website, setting up the server, cabling, vulnerability scans, and more. 

“She was able to recall conversations she had with previous departments and connect that information – not just how it relates to cybersecurity, but in general,” said Carlos Salazar, director of the Security Operations Center. “Part of what makes a great cybersecurity practitioner is being able to look at different and complex systems and put them into a cybersecurity lens, which she has.” 

After the experience, Mariah said that cybersecurity was the most interesting of all the areas of ITS she learned about. 

“I like to get to the bottom of things and investigate things,” she said. “So that job really interested me.” 

Herrera and colleague Reesa Fickett, senior project manager, agreed that exposure to different types of jobs is important for students, and working with students is important for staff, too. 

“A lot of the work we do is three steps removed from the classroom, so it definitely feels good to have more of a direct impact with students,” Fickett said. “It’s reinvigorating. It reminds us all why we’re here and why we do what we do.” 

Cohort 2 of the internship program began in February with three more JCCS students.