More than 200 underserved high schoolers "drafted" for paid internships
MINNEAPOLIS -- Cheered on by hundreds of friends and family, 224 soon-to-be seniors accepted their paid internship invitations for companies like Best Buy, General Mills, Target and many more.
Thursday is Genesys Works' Draft Day at the Minneapolis Convention Center. It's the culmination of the company's 18-month-long training and work experience program for underserved youth.
For these students, it may as well be an NFL or NBA draft.
Students will earn up to $16,000 per year during their year-long internship. Three-thousand-five hundred students have gone through the program.
Genesys Works said 93 percent of students enroll in college after their internships.
"Walking on the stage was like so surreal like it really felt like I was making it to the next level," said Aalan Chari, a student at Minnehaha Academy.
Chari is fresh off officially accepting his Medtronic internship as a security analyst.
"I know a lot of people don't have this opportunity, so I want to make the most of what I have," said Chari.
"It's very exciting. I've never experienced this before and I'm just so grateful for the company," said Michelle Vang, a student at Como Park High School.
Vang will intern in IT at CHS.
"I'm going to go to college, probably with Genesys Work, also with the help of the company," said Vang.
"It honestly brought tears to my eyes," said Aaron Harper, Senior Program Director with Genesys Works.
Harper said the goal of Genesys Works is to increase opportunity and accessibility of knowledge and job training to those who normally would not get the opportunity.
"Our work really has social justice implications and what I mean by that is we work with students that are underserved, marginalized and they often need additional support and really what we focus on is accessibility," said Harper.
Chari has advice for future students following in his footsteps.
"Don't take this for granted and stay focused," said Chari. "You've got to remember everything will pay off in the long run, so take advantage of what you have."