TOW #27: "Land a Summer Internship as a High School Student" by Delece Smith-Barrow

Everyday high school students here something about college talked about in the hallways.  They know that their future is coming soon and that responsibility is looming over their heads.  They also know that regardless of how sick of school they might be, college is still the answer for them.  Therefore, they want to beat out the competition to get into good schools.  One way to do that according to Delece Smith-Barrow, an author for U.S. News, a credible source since its an acclaimed agency, is for high school students to get internships.  Barrow’s purpose is to show her audience of high school students and their parents that having an internship in high school is beneficial.  Although her purpose does get targeted by her use of quotes from expert Lauren Berger, I feel that her purpose is not accomplished since the essay does not seem very focused.  

Barrow initially starts her essay off by saying how beneficial high school internships are because they provide an advantage for kids to get into better colleges and get jobs.  However, she then uses Berger as an expert to talk more about the how of getting an internship rather than why internships for high schoolers are so great.  For example, a quote from Berger says,”They're more willing to look outside of the box”.  The they’re she’s referring to are smaller companies, locations that she deems are more likely to hire high school students instead of college students.  This is irrelevant to the purpose of saying why high school internships are important; the quote is more interested with showing how to get internships.  Anyway, it is not really until the end where Berger says that “You're doing this internship to figure out what you want to do with the rest of your career” that the importance of high school internships is mentioned again.  

Therefore, although Smith-Barrow’s purpose may have been hit on, it was not hit over the head.  As a result, her purpose was not completely accomplished.  To get her purpose better accomplished, Smith-Barrow should have used more statistics from other sources.

High Schoolers are Interested in Internships Too

https://mhsseniorinternship.wikispaces.com/