Rock County Summer Internship Program Gives Students Valuable Training, Experience

JANESVILLE – Twenty-five high school juniors completed their summer internships on Friday as part of the 2022 Summer Rock County Internship Program. The six-week experience ended with a graduation with capstone presentations at the new Rock County Human Services building. 

Program participants came from eight different high schools and worked within a variety of industries at locations throughout the county, including ANGI, Beloit Health System, Blackhawk Technical College, CCI, Forward Janesville, Frito-Lay, Johnson Financial Group, KANDU, Mercyhealth, R.H. Batterman, Rock County Public Health, Southern Wisconsin Regional Airport and the Town of Beloit Fire Department. 

“Choosing a career, choosing that pathway, it’s not always a straight line. Some know, some go after it, some make it happen. Others kind of meander around. And it’s OK. I started down one pathway and ended up doing something completely different. It’s all about the journey,” James Otterstein, Rock County Economic Development Manager, told the internship program participants. “Hopefully, what you’ve learned during this summer program was some real positive attributes about that journey. More importantly, is that the pathway you want to move forward on? If so, great. If not, you also learned some real marketable skills – communication, time management, being proud of the work you are doing. You are going to continue to use those skills in everything that you do.” 

Students participating in the Rock Internship Program were required to present a summary of their experiences before family, friends, employers and guests at Friday’s graduation.  

Through a partnership with Blackhawk Technical College, the County of Rock, Rock County 5.0 and the Southwest Wisconsin Workforce Development Board, the 2022 Summer Rock Internship Program is a paid, six-week earn-and-learn opportunity that provides students with a structured and meaningful career pathway experience. The Summer 2022 cohort is the third time this program has been offered in Rock County, as the program was operational before the pandemic arrived. 

Summer 2022 Cohort (name, internship employer and high school): 

• Diego Gonzales-Moloney, ANGI (Rock University High School) 
• Roseanne Sous, Beloit Health System – Administration (Beloit Turner High School) 
• Marissa Whaley, Beloit Health System – Cardiology (Milton High School) 
• Jocelyn Rammer – Beloit Health System – Operations (Janesville Craig High School) 
• Isreal Muchacho – Blackhawk Technical College – Accounting (Clinton Community High School) 
• Trayvon Crain – Blackhawk Technical College – CARE Center (Rock University High School) 
• James Mathesius – Blackhawk Technical College – IT (Rock University High School) 
• Dani Guerrero – Blackhawk Technical College – Marketing (Janesville Craig High School) 
• Cloud Hyatt – Blackhawk Technical College – Marketing (Rock University High School) 
• Aleks Kablar – Blackhawk Technical College – Marketing, Workforce and Community Development & Advantage Homes (Milton High School) 
• Lydia Seifarth – Forward Janesville (Beloit Turner High School) 
• Tiana Roehl – Frito Lay (Clinton Community High School) 
• Charlotte Mark – Johnson Financial Group (Janesville Craig High School) 
• Madison Love – KANDU (Clinton Community High School) 
• Avery Bohm – KANDU (Beloit Memorial High School) 
• Cody Sullivan – Mercyhealth – Biomedical Engineering (Clinton Community High School)
• Maddie Sullivan – Mercyhealth – Lab (Clinton Community High School) 
• Ryen Reif – Mercyhealth – Nursing (Milton High School) 
• Piper Gunnelson – Mercyhealth – Perioperative (Edgerton High School) 
• Zaib Khan – Mercyhealth – Perioperative (Milton High School) 
• Ava Dalbec – Mercyhealth – Radiology (Edgerton High School) 
• Grace Zhang – R.H. Batterman (Milton High School) 
• Will Hentschel – Rock County Public Health (Milton High School) 
• Ben Imhoff – Southern Wisconsin Regional Airport (Clinton Community High School) 
• Ericka Stageman – Town of Beloit Fire Department (Janesville Parker High School) 

For a sampling of the internship descriptions, as well as information about the employers that hosted interns, please visit yourrockinternship.com.