Over the past few years, the Career and Technical Education (CTE) team at TST BOCES has reimagined its Work-Based Learning (WBL) model. With a mission to ensure every senior enrolled in a CTE program gains real-world experience before graduation, the team has expanded its industry partnerships, grown the WBL staff, and embedded employability skills directly into the curriculum. From resume writing and mock interviews to employability profiles, the WBL program is designed to prepare students for the next phase of life—whether that be college or career—by equipping them with not only technical skills, but also confidence and professional connections.
For four Digital Media seniors, that mission came to life this year through internships with the TST BOCES Public Relations Department, where students contributed to authentic communications projects supporting the organization. The interns worked under the mentorship of Chelsea Blovat, TST’s Communications Coordinator and former World of Work teacher.
“I love working with students, and as a former teacher within this organization, it feels like a full-circle moment for me,” said Blovat. “One of the most rewarding parts of my role is collaborating with students across different programs to help tell the incredible stories of the people—teachers, staff, students—who make TST such a special place. These interns brought their creativity, passion, and personality to every project, and they truly made an impact.”
Rather than assign tasks outright, Blovat created a shared project list, allowing students to choose what aligned with their skills and interests. Some projects involved photography and image editing, even videography, and others included graphic design work for banners, event signage, and even a geographic map of the TST BOCES component districts. Weekly check-ins provided a chance to review progress, offer feedback, and brainstorm solutions together.
For Talen Harrington, a full-year intern, designing the district map stood out as a personal milestone. The project required not only design skill, but geographic accuracy and brand consistency—challenges that pushed him to blend multiple adobe programs in a new workflow.
“As more of a creative designer, I’m not usually working with scale and real-world accuracy,” Talen explained. “But for this, I had to use Google Maps for reference, then trace and build the design in Illustrator and Photoshop. It made me combine tools in a way I hadn’t before.”
Riley White, who also interned for the full year, recalled the challenge of redesigning a banner for the CTE Career Center, an assignment that went through several rounds of revision. While the process pushed him out of his comfort zone at times, it ultimately became a valuable learning experience that strengthened his design skills and boosted his confidence.
“I got a lot better at anticipating feedback,” Riley said. “Now I start projects already thinking about what I can improve, which saves time and makes the final product stronger.”
The interns also noted that real-world projects came with different expectations than classroom assignments. In class, they often had more creative freedom and worked on passion projects. In the PR department, they were given parameters; brand guidelines, deadlines, and specific outcomes, which mirrored the professional world more closely.
“You don’t always get to decide what you’re working on,” said Talen. “That’s part of the job, and learning to bring your creativity to those kinds of tasks is really what it’s all about.”
March interns Randy Michael and Nemo Bourdon joined the team midyear, but both made the most of their time in the PR department. Randy contributed to several design tasks, including creating a log sheet for a P-TECH event. He shared that the experience helped him better manage creative expectations and improved his ability to follow through on projects from start to finish.
“Before, I would come up with really ambitious ideas, but I didn’t always have the tools or skills to bring them to life,” he said. “This internship showed me how having clear guidelines can actually help narrow things down and make it easier to get something done.”
Nemo, who focused on photo editing for social media, appreciated both the collaborative environment and the chance to apply skills to real posts seen by the public. They also shared that the internship helped calm their initial nerves.
“I thought I’d be anxious the whole time,” Nemo said, “but it turned out to be really fun and relaxed. It was cool to get to know people outside my class and work on something that actually got used.”
Across the board, students said the experience gave them a better sense of their strengths, their future goals, and what it means to work in a professional environment. For some, it reaffirmed plans already in motion—Riley is headed to RIT for graphic design, and Talen plans to study photography at Cornell.
For others, like Randy and Nemo, the internship helped open up new possibilities as they prepare to enter the workforce after graduation. Nemo shared that their long-term goal is to work in voiceover production, and they’re continuing to build their skills in photography and photo editing along the way.
Randy is exploring career options and appreciated how the internship helped him reconnect with creative work he genuinely enjoys.
“I’ve been getting back into traditional art like drawing, and sketching, things I hadn’t really focused on since middle school,” he said. “Working on real-world design projects made me realize how much I still love that kind of hands-on creativity.”
All four interns agreed that the experience gave them not only new skills, but a clearer sense of direction and the confidence to take their next steps, whether that’s college, career, or continued creative exploration.
Blovat hopes to grow the internship program next year and bring Digital Media students into the process even earlier.
“This was truly a win-win,” she said. “The students gained authentic experience, and I had a team of creative minds helping tell the story of our organization. No one person is an expert in every area of digital media, but together, these students brought their individual strengths to the team—and that’s exactly how it works in the professional world.”
As graduation nears, these seniors won’t just leave with portfolios, they’ll graduate with collections full of meaningful work created both in class and during their internships. Alongside those finished pieces, they’ll carry real-world experience, a stronger professional network, and the confidence that comes from seeing their skills make an impact beyond the classroom.