District C Expands Summer Internship Program with Wake County, Aiming to Serve 300 Students in 2025
Work-Based Learning Leader District C Expands Summer Internship Program with Wake County, Aiming to Serve 300 Students in 2025
The expanded partnership marks the fourth summer that Wake County students will participate in Teamship, District C’s innovative real-world learning model that matches students with organizations to solve real business problems.
RALEIGH, NC/FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE/District C, a leader in Work-Based Learning (WBL) and Career and Technical Education (CTE) programming, is excited to announce a major expansion of its Wake Summer Teamship program in partnership with Wake County Public School System (WCPSS). Entering its fourth summer, this innovative, reimagined internship experience will offer 300 high school students the opportunity to engage in real-world problem-solving, working in teams to tackle challenges posed by businesses across North Carolina.
Initially funded through ESSER funds as part of the federal COVID-19 relief legislation, the program has steadily grown with 22 students participating in the summer of 2022, 125 students in 2023, and 168 students in 2024. Next year’s program will have several one-week-long cohorts hosted at different sites across Wake County, offering an immersive, hands-on experience for rising 10th- to 12th-grade students. This growth demonstrates District C and WCPSS’s commitment to equipping students with the skills needed to succeed in a rapidly evolving job market.
“District C’s Teamship program has proven time and again to be a powerful work-based learning model for Wake County students,” says Jo Anne Honeycutt, CTE Director at WCPSS. “It is a natural fit in the CTE space, strategically helping students build durable skills–like teamwork and problem-solving–that they need for any future career,” she continues.
“To be successful in an economy reshaped by automation and AI, yes–students will need technical skills. But even more important, they will need to be great at the things that make them uniquely human,” said Dan Gonzalez, Co-Founder & CEO of District C. “Communication, creativity, teamwork, an ability to persevere in the face of novel challenges–these are the human skills students develop through Teamship. We’re so grateful for the chance to do this work in partnership with the team at WCPSS.”
The model is facilitated with business partners–local, regional and national organizations that propose real problems for student work. Past and current business partners include the U.S. Army, Novo Nordisk, and Intel. Chai Street & Co., a Raleigh-based tea shop, participated in the 2024 Wake County program. “I wish I had something like this when I was in high school,” shares Chai Street owner Faryal Ahmed. “It gives the students confidence and insight into what career paths are out there. This experience was incredibly rewarding and brought me so much joy.” Ahmed was so impressed with the students in her Teamship cycle that she hired one as an intern.
As the program evolves, District C and WCPSS remain focused on providing students with the tools and experience they need to become highly skilled, adaptable workers who thrive in diverse, team-based environments.
For more information about District C and the 2025 Wake Summer Teamship program, you can complete the interest form here.
About District C
District C is a nonprofit that prepares the next generation of diverse talent for modern work. Its flagship program, Teamship, is a reimagined internship in which teams of students solve real problems for real businesses. Since its launch in 2017, District C has served over 6,000 students from 113 schools and institutions.
About WCPSS
The Wake County Public School System is the largest school district in North Carolina, serving more than 160,000 students. Along with its participation in the Teamship program, the WCPSS CTE department works to prepare students for a variety of career pathways ranging from Agriculture to Health Science and even Public Safety.
Media Contact: Ashley Mannka, Chief Strategy Officer, ashley@districtc.co
