The Waltham Partnership for Youth is changing the lives of local high schoolers as they begin placements for the summer 2025 internship program. Located on Lexington Street, WPY is a non-profit that “collaborates with youth, families, and partner organizations to address long-standing systemic inequities while building a community of belonging and opportunity for Waltham youth.”

There are many different programs that fall under the umbrella of WPY, falling into the categories of “Youth Risk Behavior Survey”, “Wraparound Waltham” for students and families who speak spanish, and “Career Exploration & Training.” 

According to the WPY website, “The Career Exploration & Training program connects students to life-altering opportunities through meaningful paid internship experiences and professional development.” The Career Exploration & Training program “seeks to help Waltham close the economic opportunity gap, while supporting employers with making career paths more accessible and enabling youth to become empowered, connected, and career-ready.” 

One of the main aspects of the CET program is the internship program, where Waltham High School students are matched with local employers for paid internship opportunities. The main goal of this program is “for students to engage in experiential learning, explore career options, and build valuable skills.” These internships are offered both during the school year and during the summer, with the applications for the summer 2025 program closing on April 6.

In order to be eligible for the program, students are required to attend a Career Success Institute session where they work on resume updates and cover letters. In addition to the application, students submit their top five areas of interest and are matched with one of the 20 local WPY employer partners.

The 2024 Summer Internship Program Report shares the list of employer partners, including both town departments such as the Waltham Public Library and Waltham Fire Department, local organizations such as the Boston Children’s Hospital, and Brandeis departments such as the Rose Art Museum and the Brandeis Department of Student Engagement.

WPY’s Theory of Change page of the report explained that in 2023, the organization worked with Data + Soul Research in order to develop a strategic approach for the program. “Using a Youth Participatory Action Research approach, two researchers from Data + Soul guided [the] team in creating a new Theory of Change and a Measurement and Learning Plan.” This brainstorming was a group effort, “Members of the WPY staff participated in this process alongside four students who served as our Youth Advisory Group.”

Together, the group identified “the specific skills, experiences, and outcomes with which students should leave [the] program.” This list includes “the development of relationships with trusted adults and a community of aspiring peers,” “cultivation of strong professional networks and reimagined career paths,” and “career readiness skills, with a particular focus on self-efficacy, self care, and resilience.” 

These changes were applied to the eighth year of the summer internship program, taking place in the summer of 2024. The program has grown significantly since its founding, the report shares. It explains that the organization “created several new summer internship placements,

based on student interest and demand. For example, with an increase in youth interest in careers in finance, The Village Bank hosted its first intern at a local branch.”

Unfortunately, while the program was able to expand its employment opportunities this past summer, it was also “faced [with] significant budget constraints … limiting [his] ability to build on recent growth.” The report explains that “despite receiving 113 applications, only 81 young people completed the Program, which is a 23% decrease from previous years.” 

The report highlights the fact that “this [decrease] was largely due to statewide cuts in government funding, which impacted [their] ability to pay students and offer placements at organizations who identified lack of funding as a barrier to hiring interns.” 

The “Summer 2024 Snapshot” highlights some specific statistics regarding the internships that took place, explaining that 46% of the placements were in the mental health and healthcare sectors. The second highest category was education, with 31% of the 81 placements.

The financial opportunity of the report explains that interns are estimated to have made a total of $241,140, with 51.2% of this coming from employers, 31.7% coming from the Metro South/West Workforce Board, and 17.1% coming from WPY itself. All of these internships are compensated, allowing students to gain experience with budgeting and money management. The findings share that “when [students were] asked what they would do with their earnings, the most common response was to save for college expenses, while other uses of earnings included to have fun with friends or support family.”

The demographics of the intern population varied, with 59.8% of participants identifying as female. In terms of grade level, the majority of interns were rising seniors, making up 42% of participants. Over 70% of participants live in households that fall below the federal poverty level as determined by the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The report also surveyed the employers themselves. 100% of respondents explained that they would recommend the program to other employers, and 96% of these employers expressed that they would be “likely or somewhat likely to hire their intern(s) after the program ends.” Tracey Rodley from Waltham Public Schools shared that “it was a great thing to be [a] witness to, seeing young people grow into more confident young people right before my eyes in a very short time together.” This statement was echoed by Waltham Public Schools employee Sara Hamerla, who stated “students benefit from educators who reflect their own linguistic and cultural backgrounds. WPY interns are excellent role models for the multilingual learners in our summer [English Second Language] programs.”

Waltham parents also see the value of the program, as 100% of guardians rated their satisfaction either a four out of five or a five out of five, and 93% of parents said they would encourage their child to apply for another WPY internship in the future. One parent shared, “[my child] talked about being able to respond to questions and problem-solving in a fast paced environment. She was bad at it at the beginning, but really caught on and was proud of her progress.” 

The Rose Art Museum position was held by 2024 Waltham Public Schools graduate Nina Kemer during the last summer season. This role was Kemer’s first choice, and her third internship with WPY. She explained that during her six weeks at the museum, she “learned a lot about museum programming and creating lesson plans for educational activities. [She] also really enjoyed learning about the Rose’s upcoming exhibits.”

The report shares that Kemer “took the lead on creating an art-based educational activity for children visiting the Rose Art Museum. She chose to teach about Anna Atkins, a scientist who studied plants during the 1800s … [and] is famous for being the first woman to ever take a photograph.” Through the creative process, Kemer developed an activity where “students created their own cyanotype print using natural and found materials.”

Kemer shared that “because of WPY, [she feels] so much more confident… in a working environment than [she] did when [she] started.” She highlighted WPY as one of the best things she did in high school, explaining that “if [she] could give underclassmen one piece of advice to make the best of their time at Waltham High, [she] would say [to] take advantage of any opportunity to get involved in WPY.”

The placements for summer 2025 internships is currently underway, as students have just wrapped up their applications for the season.