The Austin Corp kids on campus are doing big things this year. With the help of government teacher Linda O’Neal, students are able to work with the city and eventually intern as well.

This year the Austin Corp interns competed at a civics fair against 35 other teams and won first place.  Some of the students involved were senior Kaitlyn Cortez, senior Jesus Saldana and many others.

To prepare for the civics fair, all students involved had to come up with a local issue they were truly passionate about and also find a solution for it.

“First we did a lot of research on our issue,” Saldana said. “Once we had our facts straight we started coming up with different solutions.”

The issue presented was that college is way too expensive and the solution would be to use the unclaimed prizes left over from the lottery to help students with tuition.

“We agreed on the tuition issue since we are all seniors and will soon be heading off to college,” Cortez said. “With tuition being so pricey it is important to voice our concerns about it.”

The issue and solution were presented to the rest of the teams at the fair; students started a petition at the fair to win over the rest of the teams and the judges.

“My job at the civics fair was to go around asking for signatures for the petition,” Saldana said. “I managed to get enough, seeing as we won.”

During the first semester of the class, students work on many different local projects.

“The first semester consists of hands on activities to prepare students for the internships,” O’Neal said.

Some projects the students are participating in are radio documentaries. One documentary will be about geography teacher Greg Izor and the other is about Mardi Gras Indians.

“The class is divided into two groups,” Saldana said. “Each group will cover a different person on the radio documentary.”

Once this year is over and the second semester has begun student’s will be interning with the city and becoming knowledgeable in something that relates to the career of their choice.

“My goal is to get an internship from EMT and eventually become a nurse,” Cortez said. “Austin Corp can help me achieve this goal.”

With the help of the Austin Corp program students can accomplish many things in high school, which will ultimately build a better future for them.

“I hope to intern with the city next year,” Saldana said. “I would like to learn more about the 311 call center and become familiar with this field, so I can develop a career for myself.”

O’Neal believes that the Austin Corp program is beneficial for seniors and prepares them for life.

“Internships are a great way to get a taste of what a profession will be like,” O’Neal said. “They also look great on college applications instead of an off period.”