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SHIP Students Reflect on Career Exploration
It was another busy summer for Sage Hill students who fanned out across Southern California for workplace experience under the umbrella of the Sage Hill Internship Program (SHIP).
Through summer internships and shadow days, students learn practical career skills and get a taste of industry life while being mentored by professionals.
Ninth graders have the opportunity to apply for a selective emerging leadership program, featuring engaging, hands-on activities designed to strengthen students’ leadership skills and core competencies. Before students enter the workforce, SHIP prepares 10th through 12th grade students with the skills necessary to confidently talk with employers about their passions, goals and achievements.
Ninth graders have the opportunity to apply for a selective emerging leadership program, featuring engaging, hands-on activities designed to strengthen students’ leadership skills and core competencies. Before students enter the workforce, SHIP prepares 10th through 12th grade students with the skills necessary to confidently talk with employers about their passions, goals and achievements.
As upperclassmen, students advance to resume workshops, resume reviews, mock job interviews and digital profile building.
Here are just some of the highlights from our latest summer interns:
Here are just some of the highlights from our latest summer interns:
Irvine Company Retail Properties & UC Irvine Beall Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Kamilia Motahari ‘27 visits Newport Beach’s Fashion Island at least once a week, but it never occurred to her that there are teams of people working around the clock to steward its reputation as an international retail destination.
Through the Sage Hill Internship Program (SHIP), Kamilia participated in a shadow day this summer hosted by executives with Irvine Company Retail Properties.
“You wouldn’t think that a shopping center would have so many things going on behind the scenes,” Kamilia said. “It really made me appreciate how these professionals bring it all together.”
Hospitality is Kamilia’s main interest as she explores potential career paths.
“I find so much joy in planning things,” she said. “I plan my family’s vacations, and I work on planning GEMFest, an entire day dedicated to empowering girls in Orange County.”
One conversation that made a big impact on Kamilia was with Fashion Island Marketing Coordinator Danielle House and Event Producer Max Black. The two professionals encouraged her to get as much real-world experience as possible, especially if she wants to pursue an event production career.
Additionally, Kamilia spent 120 hours over the summer break for her internship with the UC Irvine Beall Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship where she supported social media marketing and data analysis. Additionally, she cold called UCI alumni to invite them to mentor college students or sign up to compete in the Stella Zhang New Venture Competition, where participants compete for over $100,000 in start-up funding.
Calling working professionals taught Kamilia a lot about facing rejection with resilience.
“If someone says ‘no’ that’s OK but you can’t let that get you down,” she said. “You can’t take it to heart too much. The people who say ‘yes’ get you even more excited!”
Boeing
Zimo Tian ‘27 was in the latest cohort of Sage Hill students who joined the Boeing summer internship program to explore careers in aerospace engineering. Zimo worked on a project using a computer-aided design (CAD) model to measure the limits of a particular part of the 787 Dreamliner by applying varied levels of force and load.
“What taught me more was actually working with my peers because at Boeing they have the interns set up each event and students were responsible for bonding events, final poster presentation and an orientation ceremony,” Zimo said.
A SHIP student, Zimo benefited from learning how to focus and resume as well as experience sharing about himself during a mock job interview conducted by a parent volunteer.
“I feel like it prepped me really well for the interviews I had at Boeing and it was just really helpful in making me feel less nervous,” Zimo said.
Zimo was joined at Boeing by Sage Hill students Jerry Oung ‘27, Reza Sharif ‘27, Aanya Pillai ’27 and Max Konavalov ’27.
USC Shoah Foundation
Zahra Hakimi ’27 is passionate about human rights advocacy and international relations, which led her to USC Shoah Foundation’s William P. Lauder Junior Internship Program. The program provides approximately seventh through 11th graders with an opportunity to engage with recorded testimonies from survivors and witnesses of genocide.
“We talked to each other about what it means to be an upstander and prevention of mass atrocity in the future and how it starts,” Zahra said.
Zahra’s cohort of approximately 20 students studied testimonies recorded by USC Shoah Foundation’s iWitness program, including those from survivors of the Holocaust, Armenian genocide and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Through an archive of hundreds of hours of testimony, Zhara could type in a question and essentially live chat with a survivor.
A mock interview with a parent volunteer during the last school year, prepared Zahra to eventually answer questions from the Shoah Foundation’s internship coordinators.
“The questions that SHIP asked and the mock interviews, I think that definitely made it a lot easier and it made it more comfortable,” Zahra said.
Other students enjoyed a variety of engaging experiences. Here are some other recent SHIP placements:
Internships
- Natalie Song ‘27 – UCI Irvine Engineering on behalf of the U.S. Army Research Office
- Advik Uppal ‘28 - IT intern at Callaway Golf
- Kristopher Ramirez ‘27 - Shadow Day with Orthopedic Surgeon Dr. Shaun Desai
- Sophia Su ‘28 – Internship at the Irvine City Council
- Sasha Hanjan ‘29 – Lil Dribblers Basketball Internship
Shadow Days
- Claire Cao ‘29 – Johnson & Johnson, SEW.ai, SetPoint Medical, SmarterHome.ai
- Eric Ke ‘29– SmarterHome.ai
- Mia Buccola ‘28 – SetPoint Medical
- Ethan Sippl ’28 – Johnson & Johnson
- Ethan MCNutt ‘28 – Johnson & Johnson, CerraCap Ventures
- Maria Neemuchwala '28 – Johnson & Johnson
- Mac Warren ‘28 – Avasant
Sage Hill School
A college preparatory independent day school for grades 7-12.
20402 Newport Coast Drive, Newport Coast, CA 92657
Phone: 949.219.0100 | Fax: 949.219.1399
20402 Newport Coast Drive, Newport Coast, CA 92657
Phone: 949.219.0100 | Fax: 949.219.1399
Sage Hill School admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the School. The School does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship programs, and athletic and other School administered programs.