Until February 24, all sophomores, juniors and seniors have the opportunity to apply for Work Experience (WorkX), a program which exclusively provides ASL students with work experience.

Last year, 29 percent of the students who applied for WorkX were sophomores, 57 percent were juniors and 14 percent were seniors.

The WorkX committee, run by six parents, is part of  the Parent Committee Association (PCA), and works closely with Director of Academic Advising and College Counseling Patty Strohm.

The WorkX placements range from banking and engineering to sports and fashion. The internships  are provided by ASL parents, friends of parents, and alumni.

ASL parent Enid Prasad, who is one of the parents in charge of WorkX, explained that the goal of the program is to “give students an introduction to working, to a work environment, and what might be required.”

The application process has also changed this year.  A parent and student commitment letter are still required by the student as well as a CV and cover letter. Certain WorkX options also require an interview and additional documents.

However, the submission of these documents has changed. All documents are now required to be submitted in a document on Google Drive.

The students who take part are not paid for their help. The program usually takes place in June and July, and  typically lasts between one to two weeks.

While WorkX is not mandatory, Prasad believes this experience offers students numerous advantages and opportunities.

A principal benefit of the WorkX program is its value for student resumes and college application. “Your experience can form the basis of some of your college essays and enhance your CV,” Prasad said.

In addition, doing WorkX can help students develop their interests and even decide what career they may pursue in the future. “If you’re a 10th grader, and you [do] two work experiences a year, you have six different experiences by the time you graduate school. That should help you think about what you [might] like to do in the future,” Prasad said. By experiencing  different areas of work, students can get a broader perspective of what is available to them once they graduate school, and where their passion lies.

Strohm also believes that, “[WorkX is] very helpful for people to understand who they are as a person,” Prasad also thinks that the program can be useful for students to understand who they are and how they work. Prasad said that “[Work experience] can increase self-awareness about yourself.”

Ariel Calver (’16) participated in two WorkX programs last summer. Calver worked both at Toddler’s Inn Nursey and Style Dabba (now Crossing Travels).

In Toddler’s Inn, she worked with children in the nursery, and in Style Dabba, she took pictures around London for the travel agency’s online blog. “With regards to Toddler’s Inn, it gave me this newfound appreciation for teachers because working with kids is so hard and tiring,” she said.

Despite the program not wholly translating to her school experiences, she felt that it taught her “quite a bit about social dynamics.”

In applying for WorkX, Prasad advises that students also step outside of their comfort zones and try different industries as “you don’t know what will really pique your interest.”

Strohm further encourages all students to do WorkX. “We would love it if every student would take advantage of these opportunities,” Strohm said.