Junior Tashvi Pydimarry has been interested in the medical field ever since she was young. She has put in a lot of time researching different topics pertaining to medical sciences, and during her freshman year of high school, Pydimarry said she found her calling studying oncology.

“I have been studying the medical field since I was very, very young. My parents got me into it, and it’s a (field) I’ve been very (interested in for a long time),” Pydimarry said. “I have studied a bunch of different fields, like cardiology and the trauma base, so I just naturally went to oncology because of (my interest in) stem cell research. In ninth grade, (my honors biology teacher Ann) Mayhew started talking about stem cell research, and I was like, ‘This is it for me.’”

Due to her fascination with oncology, Pydimarry said she applied to a prestigious internship in California when she was 14 years old.

“Oncology is basically the study of cancer, and I was supposed to do stem cell research (for my internship), which involves (learning) how to (transform) multipotent cells into stem cells that can be used to transplant into cancer patients,” Pydimarry said. “I had applied (to the internship) when I was a freshman.”

Although Pydimarry’s internship for the summer of 2024 fell through, she applied to the same internship for the summer of 2025, and said it would be an incredible way to explore a subject she cares about.

Junior Jessica Xie undertook an internship for a subject she is interested in as well. Xie has been working for the Breakbread Literacy Project, a literary magazine which aims to represent teen and minority writers. Xie said she became a part of the magazine because she has had a passion for writing since she was young.

“I decided to take (my internship) on because I’ve always really loved writing and reading, but I’d never really had any experience on the publishing side of things and that was something I was curious about,” Xie said.

Richard Reid, this school’s Work-Based Learning coordinator, said there are several different options for internships students can get involved in via classes at this school.

“We have 26 career pathways at this school. Students can do a principles-level class during their first year and then a Concentrator A and Concentrator B class,” Reid said. “That can happen over two or three years. In order to do the internships during the Capstone courses, they have to have all three classes completed. It’s kind of like a college major, in a sense. You’re really specializing in a certain content area.”

Reid also said this program is relatively new, but even so, it’s gaining momentum quickly.

“(This year is) the second full year (of the Work-Based Learning program). Last year I think we had 55 students, and this year we have about 115 doing it. We’re expecting next year to probably hit 200 (students),” Reid said. “The problem is that you cannot do (an internship) unless you’ve met the prerequisite (classes). For a lot of folks that are seniors now, they’re like, ‘Oh, I would’ve loved to do an internship, but I’ve only taken one class.”

Even so, Reid said internships are beneficial because they allow students to find out what subjects they want to pursue as a career before it’s too late for them to change their minds.

“Students are able to apply all of what they’ve been learning in a classroom hands-on,” Reid said. “Another big benefit is, you can figure out if this is what you’re really passionate about. This is an opportunity for students to test something out right now. It’s a win for (teachers) if (students) are like, ‘That’s my passion. That’s what I want to do for the rest of my life.’ To me, that’s a huge win, but it’s equally a win if they say, ‘This is not what I want to do.’ If they find that out now, then they either study something different when they go to school, or they pursue a different trade or certification after high school. They’re not gonna waste time and money pursuing something they’re not going to ultimately really enjoy.”

Pydimarry said she agreed with Reid, and that her favorite aspect of internships is the opportunity for students to explore subjects they love, especially since her internship would have allowed her to explore the medical field in a unique way.

“(I would have gotten to) experiment a lot with cells, and try to get them into bone cells and brain cells. I would have been able to actually try to work on that myself, and we would’ve worked on DNA, genomes, phonemes and how certain cells would turn into certain things based on their environments. That’s what I was most looking forward to- actually working on those things myself,” Pydimarry said.

Xie said she shares a similar sentiment, and said her work on a literary magazine has helped deepen her love for reading and writing.

“I really appreciated Breakbread’s mission as someone who falls squarely in their target audience,” Xie said. “As a bonus, (my internship) also helped me gain a lot of experience in the (literary magazine) world if I do choose to pursue something related to publishing in the future.”

All in all, Xie said she sincerely valued her time as an intern.

“I had so much fun with this internship,” she said. “I really liked the team I worked with and they were all such lovely people who all shared one common passion.”