Juniors who want a head start to nab a 2025 summer internship at Huntington Beach’s Boeing headquarters should start contacting their computer science or engineering teachers this semester.

While applications won’t be available for pickup until February, it doesn’t hurt to start inquiring about what it’s like to work for an aerospace company like Boeing.

“I encourage students who are eager to learn and are currently excelling in their classes [to ask me about the internship],” computer science teacher Myra Deister said. “Some of the key traits that I look for in applicants [are] enthusiasm and accountability because when a mentor at Boeing gives you an assignment, the expectation is you’re going to work on it, above and beyond your usual efforts and finish that task.”

Deister said she and two others — business instructor Richard Bailey and Engineering Pathways to Innovate and Change teacher Martin Rodriguez — will review the applications and choose which students to interview and then select five or six participants for the Boeing Internship Program, which will begin around the middle of June.

In addition to the application, Deister said students must submit a resume to an assignment on her Google Classroom within a week of its posting. Afterwards, she, Bailey and Rodriguez will select interviewees based on the applicants’ responses.

Last semester, Deister said they held interviews in March during sixth period in Room 43 with some taking place after school to accommodate applicants’ schedules. Additionally, the teacher said she posted the interview questions on her Google Classroom, giving the applicants time to prepare their responses.

If the students pass the interview round, the next step is to attend a workshop in Room 42 to learn what to expect from the Boeing Internship Program.

For this past summer’s program, the selection committee narrowed down the 25 applicants to six senior candidates: Ethan Hsu, Anthony Mitri, Moselle Mohammand, Jai Patel, Hannah Saab and Jeremiah Sung.

A total of 68 interns from 13 different Southern California high schools participated in the internship, Hsu said.

Each intern selects a mentor and a corresponding subject from a list of available options, which includes processing chemistry, structural engineering, environmental health and safety, programming, literature, industrial engineering and chemical engineering, said Hsu, who chose environmental health and safety.

Students were expected to attend at least once per week and fulfill an hour requirement set by their mentors. Interns were allowed a grace week allowing them to miss one week of the program in case of vacations or emergencies.

During their internship, Mitri said students create a poster showcasing their work and contributions, join a committee based on their interests and choose their schedules to accommodate their other commitments. 

Interns showcase their posters during the seventh week of the program at the Boeing Facility to interested employees.

Finally, because Boeing works on defense contracts that are usually classified, student interns are required to sign a confidentiality agreement.

Despite the confidentiality contract, Deister said it was clear how passionate the seniors were about their experience at Boeing.

Hannah Saab, for example, reflected on her time in the Boeing internship and the valuable lessons she had gained from the experience.

“I always thought engineering was something that you do alone, but from the internship, I saw how the engineers all work together, and there is a lot of collaboration and [teamwork],” said Saab, who chose a mentor specializing in industrial engineering. “I was really interested in going into an engineering field, but I wasn’t sure what that would be in the real world, so I thought this internship would give me a lot of real-life experience of working in the engineering field.”

Another senior, Mitri, shared how much he enjoyed the program, encouraging others to apply.

“I would 100% recommend this because it’s a new experience that takes you to the world of engineering,” Mitri said. “We weren’t babied into it, as we were working directly with engineers in the engineering environment, allowing us to see how designing actually happens.”

Sung said he also agrees with Mitri and encourages current juniors interested in engineering or computer science to consider getting an application early next semester.

“Not only will you work with actual engineers from Boeing, you will be in an environment that has resources for projects or research,” he said. “In my experience, this program greatly affected me, inspiring me to pursue the engineering field.”