Electric Boat’s Summer High School Intern Program (SHIP)

EB’s Summer High School Intern Program (SHIP) is a work-based learning internship for local high school juniors. The program, a partnership between Electric Boat, the labor unions and the CT Department of Labor, is aimed at cultivating a strong pipeline for future talent in the trades. Over the next decade, Electric Boat will lose skilled workers as they begin to retire. By collaborating with local high schools, EB is preparing the next generation workforce, introducing students to high-skill, high wage manufacturing careers.
 
Over the course of six weeks, the summer interns work side-by-side with union members who have years of shipbuilding experience, helping to expand the students’ knowledge and prepare them for the upcoming transition from school to work. To be selected for the program, students must be at least 16 years of age, a U.S. citizen, enrolled in a career and technical education program and have completed their junior year of high school.
 
This year, there were 40 total interns from 11 local high schools. 18 of the students came from traditional, comprehensive high schools, 10 from technical high schools, 8 from Connecticut’s Early College Opportunity (ECO) program, and 4 students from Westerly, Rhode Island’s Pathways through Early College High School (P-TECH) program.
 
Based on their field of interest, the interns were placed in varying areas of the company. There were 20 students placed in the operations field; these interns were able to work alongside carpenters, electricians, machinists, pipefitters, shipfitters, and warehousemen. 16 interns focused on design, including electrical, mechanical, piping/HVAC, or structural arrangement jobs, and 4 were placed in material services. This year, there was substantial diversity among the interns, with 20 percent of the student interns being women and 35 percent of the group being minorities.

If you have questions about this program, please reach out to Jemiel Rose, SHIP Program Coordinator, at hrose@gdeb.com.
Participating High Schools
Bacon Academy (3)
East Lyme High School (3)
Fitch High School (2)
Grasso Technical High School (5)
Ledyard High School (3)
Norwich Free Academy (2)
Norwich Technical High School (5)
Science & Technology HS of New London (4)
Waterford High School (5)
Westerly High School (4)
Windham High School (4)