The Lakeside Village in Panora in their second year of their summer internship program has continued to prepare young adults for a career path. 

The paid internship  program was eight weeks long and for ages 14-19. The Lakeside Village Director Amanda Creen tells Raccoon Valley Radio they were able to hire 15 interns for multiple career fields including culinary, marketing, maintenance, activities, nursing and management. Creen states they also were able to get many interns specialized certifications such as certified nurses assistants, food protection managers, assisted living managers, medication managers, OSHA certified (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) and all interns get certified in CPR. 

“All in all, this summer we did a really good job of getting a lot of people in our area certified into high demand jobs for the Panora area.”

Creen says that this intern program was funded by the Future Ready Iowa which connects Iowans to education and training required for good paying jobs and careers. She notes that programs like this give kids the ability to figure out what they want to do as a career.

“They should check it out and try it out. If it’s not for them, then at least they learn that summer that that’s not their dream. But a lot of people are finding that health care and taking care of people, and particularly dementia care, might be something that they’re passionate about.”

Creen adds they had interns from every Guthrie County school district and all 15 interns were compensated $5,000 for their work at the assisted living facility.