Work during vacations

Summer vacations are almost here and one should plan to make the best of the time off. Spending time at your aunt's place might sound appealing at first but if you are ambitious, then you must choose some enriching (and appealing) internship opportunities.

You could enrol in some very interesting (read non-academic) workshops or programmes. One such opportunity is the Yardstick Fellowship. It seeks to infuse entrepreneurial skills in students between the ages of 13 and 16. It’s a free-of-charge, 36-day programme designed to expose students to work cultures in research centres, NGOs and corporate entities.

“Students experience how different departments work in various setups. They spend time with NGOs, such as the World Wildl Fund (for Nature), Nandi and National Greens Corps, and also meet scientists from the Vikram A. Sarabhai Community Science Centre and the Gujarat Science City. Finally, they create prototypes at the Vigyan Ashram, Pabal,” says Lewitt Somarajan, project coordinator, Yardstick Fellowship.

Alternatively, there are fellowships sponsored by big universities. These include Stanford University’s Education Programme for Gifted Youth (EPGY), Harvard’s Senior School Programme, Berkeley’s Academic Talent Development Programme, Warwick’s International Gateway of Gifted Youth and Duke’s Talent Identification Programme.

Anand Khare, a class-twelfth student of Delhi Public School, R K Puram has been selected for Stanford’s programme, this year. He attended the same fellowship last year, as well.

“It was not just an academic programme but involved fun too, because they took us for sightseeing to Science Exploratorium and the Golden Gate Bridge Park. It was the perfect way to spend the summers in the most meaningful way,” says Khare.

Another form of internship is a mentorship programme that is open to students studying in premier engineering and management institutes. Students from IITs and NSIT volunteer to mentor IIT-JEE aspirants. Zion Tutorials, Delhi, started by IIT Roorkee and NSIT alumni, provides such an opportunity to college students.

“We take interns from top engineering colleges to mentor IIT-JEE aspirants. The seniors are responsible for answering queries and motivating students, if and when the aspirant needs it,” says Anup Gupta, co-founder, Zion Tutorials
 

Author: Vimal Chander Joshi

Date: 14th April, 2010

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