Heritage offers six pre-professional programs including Biomedical Engineering, Computer Science, Business, Engineering, Medicine and Law. Each program is taught by professionals of their respective fields.
These programs provide students who want to pursue careers in these professions with the resources and connections. Seniors in a track must attend internships in order to complete the program. Through these internships, they can experience a professional workforce and the responsibilities that come with it as well as the profession.
Unlike previous years, students can only attend their internships virtually because of COVID-19. Since students cannot participate in-person, they are not exposed to the fast paced work style online as they would be in a physical room. However, students still face the same responsibilities as they did before, such as attending meetings, managing their time and making up the work from the classes they have missed.
Pre-Law
Seniors who partake in the Pre-Law Program attend their internships through Zoom calls once or twice a week, where each meeting lasts around three hours, usually on Mondays, Wednesdays or Fridays.
To get an internship, students must stay involved in the Pre-Law Society and take all the required Pre-Law courses, such as Business Law, so that they earn a total of five credits. They also have to take two electives, such as Juvenile Law, as well as keep a 3.75 GPA. The internships run from Jan. 29 to April 27, and seniors are scheduled for 15 different visits.
“With this year’s internships, I really haven’t been able to truly experience what a typical day would look like for these lawyers or what their practice really is. Perhaps if it were in person it would be a different story,” senior Camila Otero said. “Of course, it’s easy to just hop online and listen in on a zoom meeting, but the experience isn’t the same. Honestly, it’s not as exciting as I was hoping it to be. However, I’m still very appreciative of having this opportunity given to me, regardless of the circumstances.”
Pre-Engineering
Seniors in the Pre-Engineering Program start their internships virtually in September and end them sometime at the end of April. To qualify for an internship they must earn 6.5 credits by completing a number of courses, for example, Principles of Engineering Honors and maintain a 3.5 GPA. In addition to taking courses offered by the program, students also have to take the required math, science and elective courses, such as physics.
“Many companies have very few people working on the site and the companies have put video presentations together and they’re presenting them to our students. They are seeing a different side of the world other than the classroom,” Pre-Engineering Program Director Mrs. Mohanalatha Pamajala said. “This pandemic has weakened everybody, but there are some companies looking to give experiences to students.”
Although this year’s internships took place virtually, resulting in several differences from previous years, students will still leave their internships with connections and life skills they did not have before.
“They may make connections with the engineers they meet which leads into their professional life. It’s a very important event for them every year,”Mrs. Pamajala said. “I have seen students who want to be a biomedical engineer, but once they attend these internships, they think they don’t want to be a biomedical engineer. They may want to be a mechanical engineer. It’s an eye opener for them.”
Pre-Computer Science
The seniors involved in the Computer Science program start their internships virtually in the beginning of March and end them in around two months. This is the first year of internships for the Computer Science track. Students can expect to shadow professionals in the industry as well as, learn about what a professional work day looks like. The qualifications to receive an internship include: having a 3.5 GPA and taking all the Computer Science courses, such as, Computer Science Essentials H, resulting in students earning 4.5 credits. Students also must take one of the two offered AP Computer Science classes and honors math classes, so they can keep up with the high level of math used throughout the program
“I feel that while COVID-19 has led to some setbacks in the completion of the internship by cancelling most physical events, I am still excited to intern and see the practical applications of computer science in (virtual) real-world environments. Fortunately, many facets of computer science don’t necessitate physical interaction and much of our work has smoothly transitioned to the online environment,” senior Manuj Marwaha said.
Pre-BioMedical Engineering
To receive an internship, seniors in the BioMedical Engineering track have to take certain courses that fall under the program, such as Honors Medical Terminology, as well as science courses, such as AP Biology. They also have to participate in both Pre-Med and Engineering club meetings and be a part of the robotics team for at least one year.
Pre-Medicine
Pre-Med internships are opportunities that give seniors the ability to see the daily activities of a professional in a specific field of medicine. In order to gain an internship students have to earn a total of nine credits by finishing all the required courses, maintain a 3.5 GPA, participate actively in Pre-Med sponsored activities and keep a good standard of discipline. A final interview with the director of the program plays as the deciding factor for whether a senior will receive an internship.
The directors currently have contracts with the major hospitals of Broward County including: Broward Health System, Memorial System, Cleveland Clinic and the doctors who own private clinics or practices. Directors send students to shadow a variety of specialties, so that they are not exposed to just one field.
Most internships this year are virtual where students attend a Google Meet or Zoom meeting during surgery or PowerPoint presentation, once or twice a week, where each session is one to two hours long. However, some doctors have accepted some students to go in-person as long as their parents give their consent to do so. Safety precautions are taken in the hospitals to make sure the students who go to their internships physically, stay safe.
Internships occurred in-person, in previous years, but as they ran until March 13, students had to end a small portion of their internships online, since all hospitals and doctor’s offices working with the program, suspended physical internships during that time.
“Last year they got to go to practices in person and watch surgeries, shadow the physicians and talk to them about their fields,” senior Anisa Haffizulla said. “We’re all a little disappointed that we aren’t able to experience each subspecialty first-hand like all of the previous senior classes, but we’re still getting the opportunity to hear about each field in depth and talk to the doctors directly. We miss a lot less class then we would’ve so it’s definitely easier to stay on top of our work.”
