While being able to witness firsthand how various functions in a city are performed may seem out of the realm of a normal high school student’s life seniors Michael Lach and Fiona Geary have been granted a rare internship at the Claremont Chamber of Commerce. The internship began last April and will last a year. The two were chosen by former CHS student Tamar Landman, who had taken part in the same internship the year prior.

        The Claremont Chamber of Commerce’s purpose is to aid economic and social growth within the city and community, by promoting inter-relationships between business and community. The internship’s intended purpose is to give students the experience of dealing with the business end of local government. Though with any internship there are tedious aspects to it such as copying and stocking brochures, but these tasks benefit the Chamber of Commerce.

“The internship is meant to ease the burden of the employees at the Chamber of Commerce,” intern Michael Lach said. “There are only a few employees, but they have to organize city wide events and supply information to anybody from visitors to long term residents. So when we cover all the small tasks, the Chamber has more time to make a greater impact on the community.”

       The Chamber of Commerce typically helps organize future events such as the Village Venture by encouraging businesses to participate and sponsor the event. The Village Venture has been a primary focus for not only the Chamber of Commerce, but also a big project for the interns. Village Venture serves as not only an entertaining event for the community, but also as an opportunity for the interns to establish a relationship with businesses and interact with them when helping organize the event.

        The internship began last April and will last until April or May of 2017. After the two students finish their internship, they will select two more students from the 2018 class that they feel will be most suited and most interested for the opportunity. The internship is on a voluntary basis, meaning no pay. However, it is not strenuous on a high school students schedule since it is only once a week on Wednesday for two hours.

Lach and Geary have so far enjoyed their time at the Claremont Chamber of Commerce, getting to know the inner workings of a local government institution. Additionally, they have been able to experience and help the community in a very real way with their internship. The pair look forward to the rest of the internship and finding another duo to replace them.