When the school day ends, most high schoolers head home or to practices or club meetings. But Jayden Rosario goes to his corporate internship at Williams Companies.
He is one of 35 teens in the Tulsa area who are part of an expanding program from Genesys Works. The nonprofit, which matches students with internships, is contributing to the Mayor’s Office of Children, Youth and Families development of a youth workforce ecosystem.
In Tulsa, Genesys recruits from Tulsa and Union public schools and KIPP Charter School.
Eligible students must be rising seniors on track to graduate. The program offers an intensive eight-week summer training that leads into their internships. During the school year, students work about 20 hours per week.
As a student of philosophy and an aspiring petroleum engineer, Rosario said his dad unexpectedly met an employee from Williams and that helped shape his career path.
“A week later, I went to an information session about Genesys Works. I looked at their partners list and Williams was the first one to show up,” he said.
Now he spends half of his day in online classrooms and the rest with the energy supply chain division where he works primarily on an internal automation system.
“I kind of perceived the corporate world as like some big, elaborate, intricate system,” Rosario said. “But in reality, it’s just a bunch of individuals contributing to a common goal. And when you think of it like that, there’s a lot more humanity to it.”
Tulsa Deputy Mayor Krystal Reyes said Rosario’s experience is exactly what they’re hoping to build.
“We foresee paid internships/jobs for 16- to 24-year-olds as part of that mix,” Reyes said. “We are determining funding sources available and how to leverage resources and partnerships with employers to make that happen.”
Genesys Works CEO Byron Garrett said their mission is a good fit for Tulsa as it searches for ways to grow and keep its own talent. Many of their interns are on track to out-earn their parents, making about $70,000 within seven years of graduation, he said.
“Normally, that student could work at Dollar Tree, or they may work at McDonald’s, or they may go work at Walmart,” Garrett said. “Not that those are not great jobs, they’re typically not career pathways that would really lead to significant income growth.”
Leonelle Thompson, a leader for Williams Companies’ early career team, said their interns are paid $14 an hour rather than $7.25 minimum wage. They gain valuable experience and often join Williams’ pipeline for future employment, she said.
From day one, Thompson said the interns bring in a fresh perspective and are eager for the exposure to the types of careers they may ultimately seek. They move from making little eye contact in their first few days to polished presentations and plans for college at the end.
“I have yet to not do an ugly cry during these reflections,” she said. “The openness, the willingness to learn and that curiosity. You can’t teach that.”
Other companies for students to choose from include MESA, Community Care and Ascension St. John Medical Center. Garrett said he expects that list to grow.
Tulsa is the first mid-tiered city where Genesys Works is training high school students and placing them in paid corporate internships. The company expects to expand to 50 students for this summer’s Tulsa cohort. It’s already reviewing 109 applications for those positions.
Editor’s note: This story has been corrected to fix the spelling of Jayden Rosario’s name.
