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Twin Cities teens get paid internships with Fortune 500 companies

On Tuesday morning, high school students and their families packed the St. Paul RiverCentre for the much-anticipated Draft Day. 

ST. PAUL, Minn. - More than 280 teens from diverse backgrounds in the Twin Cities will spend the next year interning at Fortune 500 companies, thanks to Genesys Works, a nonprofit that connects disadvantaged teens with the resources to climb the corporate ladder.

On Tuesday morning, high school students and their families packed the St. Paul RiverCentre for the much-anticipated Draft Day.

"It's one of the more delightful things I get to do in my job," said Mike McNamara, chief information officer for Target, a corporate partner that has worked with Genesys Works for the last seven years. "We will be taking 35 high school students today. This is an investment in our future. It’s an investment in creating a pipeline of bright young kids going through college, going into science and technology, graduating college and then hopefully getting back to work for us."

The internships are paid. Students will earn roughly $10,000 at the completion of the internship.

The nonprofit also provides college planning resources to students.

Chang Yang, a rising senior at Johnson High School in St. Paul, found out that he will be interning at Abbott, a global healthcare company.

"I think this means that I will have a good resume definitely," said Yang, a budding project manager with an interest in IT work. "I plan to help my parents pay some of the rent and the bills."

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