2 Rivers Big Picture High School seeks more business hosts for student internships

Chrissy Riley, internship coordinator at 2 Rivers Big Picture High School, told the Snoqualmie Economic Development Commission on May 21 that the school is expanding a work-based learning program that pairs high-school students with local businesses for shadow days and internships.

Riley said the program is built around classroom academics in the morning and hands-on, student-driven learning in the afternoons. "My name is Chrissy Riley, and I'm the internship coordinator at 2 Rivers. I'm also a CTE teacher," she told commissioners, and she asked the commission and local business leaders to help "hook" students up with mentors in the community.

The program sends students to shadow professionals and, if the match works, to return for longer internships. Riley said the school runs a short professional-development boot camp for students, manages background checks for hosts and uses an internal database called Enblaze to track prospects and cleared hosts. "The ultimate goal, is for the student to have an internship," she said.

Riley described typical scheduling and legal limits: "They can't be paid at all. So no pay. We do them Mondays and Wednesdays from 12 to 3 ish." She added that some hosts later hire students for paid work outside the school internship hours; for example a retail employer who hosted a student from 12–3 later hired that student for shifts from 3–5 and weekends.

Commissioners and business members in the room pushed practical questions about scale, funding and reach. Riley said 2 Rivers is a Snoqualmie Valley School District program with about 60 students overall (roughly 20 per grade). "Our senior year, we have 13 students, 11 are graduating," she said when asked about outcomes, and added that several graduates have gone on to college or technical programs.

Riley said the school will accept internships across the Valley and beyond if students can arrange transportation; hosts and students set schedules by mutual agreement. She described the low administrative bar for hosts: a site check and the district volunteer form (a background check) are the primary requirements. "If you're willing to host a kid, just, like, you know, really take these restraints off if you can and just, like, test, you know, like, have a kid come in just even for a couple shadow days," she said.

Commissioners said they would help spread the word to businesses and invited Riley to provide flyers and a web link. Nicole (city community liaison) offered to distribute Riley's materials and suggested the recorded meeting could be shared with local business contacts. Several business owners in the room said they had hosted students or were open to doing so.

Riley closed by asking businesses to email her interest or to host a low-commitment shadow day so that students and hosts can evaluate fit before starting a longer internship. "If you send me an email, I'm not gonna be, like, all on you. Like, come on. Come on. Come I promise I won't harass you," she said.

The commission agreed to help publicize the program through the chamber and other business channels.

Riley left business-card material and flyers for follow-up; commissioners asked staff to circulate her contact information and the program link.