City High School Students Celebrate Internships in the Arts

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

The New York Sun

RELATED: Photos from the Center for Arts Education Internship Celebration

While Wall Streeters revel in their bonuses high, 36 school New York high school students are celebrating unquantifiable benefits from their recently completed internships in the creative sector.

“I used to be overwhelmed by my dreams,” a senior at Bayside High School, Juliana Xin, said. “Now I’m a person willing to do anything to achieve them.” Ms. Xin was speaking Monday at a “culminating celebration” for students, mentors, friends, and family held at Alvin Ailey’s Joan Weill Center for Dance. Her internship was at Silverstein Photography, and her dream is to run her own gallery.

A senior at the High School of Art and Design who had an internship at the Tribeca Film Festival, Suren Karapetyan, noted another benefit of his experience: “I was able to write a damn good cover letter for another internship,” Mr. Karapetyan said.

The internships are one aspect of the Career Development Program at the Center for Arts Education, administered by Dianna DiPalma, Alexander Santiago-Jirau, and Lukeem Hanton, under the direction of the center’s executive director, Richard Kessler.

An application and interview process, training boot camp, and weekly feedback sessions are part of the internship experience, which includes a 12-hour-a-week commitment to the worksite.

“We really like the kids. They know how to handle themselves,” Cheryl Conkling, of the New York Theater Workshop, said.

Compared to college interns, “they’re more willing to take direction, and there are more opportunities to give them insight,” Jeremy Helton, of the Culture Project, said.

“He’s very comfortable in the gallery setting,” the Cue Art Foundation’s Beatrice Wolert-Weese said of her intern, Bobby Pache, a senior at Bayside High School. “He even spoke to someone on the phone interested in buying a piece.”

During his internship at Bad Boy Worldwide Entertainment Group, a junior at Samuel Gompers CTE High School, Alexis Colon, said he learned “there’s more to music than just making a record.”

A senior at Thomas Edison CTE High School, Krystal Segulam, had an hour commute to her internship for medical advertising firm KPR in Midtown from Jamaica, Queens. Now that the internship is over, she has some free time. “I’ll be working on my college applications,” Miss Segulam said.

agordon@nysun.com


The New York Sun

© 2025 The New York Sun Company, LLC. All rights reserved.

Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. The material on this site is protected by copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used.

The New York Sun

Sign in or  Create a free account

or
By continuing you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use