As the clock ticks toward graduation, seniors are getting ready for their internships.

 “This year, about 450 seniors will be doing an internship, which starts on May 20th and ends on June 14th,”  the Senior Internship Coordinator, Mrs. Saveliff, said.

 Seniors will be working in a variety of settings.

 While underclassmen might expect some to be more popular than others, interest in different opportunities varies.

 “It’s hard to say which internships are popular because I think everyone has such varying interests across all potential internships,” Jacob Meisel’13 said.

 Still, there are a handful of areas in which most students will work: education, history, politics, finance, and fashion.

 Education

 “There are about 125 interns in the eight Westport schools,” Saveliff said.

 A large portion of students will volunteer to work with students.

 “I’ll be interning at Giant Steps School, which is a school for children with Autism Spectrum Disorders, developmental disabilities, and related neurological impairments,” Alexandra Rappaport’13 said. “This was my first choice because I love helping people and wanted my internship to be meaningful.”

 And let’s face it, it is also fun to go back to middle school.

 “I’m interning at Coleytown Elementary School in a 1st grade class,” Gabriella Rizack’13 said. “Kids are awesome and since I used to go to CES, I thought it would be great to do it there.”

 Unsurprisingly, the students in Staples Players are specifically interning with drama teachers.

 “I will be an assistant teacher with Ms. McCormick, who is the drama teacher at Bedford and a couple more people from Players are doing that internship as well,” Madeline Seidman’13.

 History

 Some seniors will have longer commutes-out of town and through history.

 “I am working at the American Museum of Natural History and I decided to do this one because as a child, I loved the museum and I thought it would be very interesting to see it from a more “behind the scenes”angle,” Griffin Noyer’13 said.

 Politics and Law

 Some will work with government officials and legal experts.

 “This year, I will be interning for the First Selectman at Town Hall, which will require me to help organize survey data and shadow him at department meeting,” Meisel’13 said. “I know that I enjoy politics, and therefore, my prior interests really helped me decide what I wanted to do for my internship.”

 “I’m doing my internship at a law firm in Stamford called Ryan Ryan Deluca, which handles some really cool cases, but I don’t expect to be arguing a case before the Supreme Court any time soon,”Mike Holtz’13 said. “I am so interested in politics and the law that over the summer, I’m going to be interning for Senator Blumenthal’s office in Washington, DC.

Finance

 With the way the economy is going right now, we need an leader who will step up to their economic standards.

 “I am working at Terex in their finance department because I have always been interested in finance,”Jill Rappaport’13 said. “It was a pretty easy decision, I just wanted to find some place close and this was the perfect place.”

 Fashion

 Staples students have always been fashionistas.

 “I’m working at Winged Monkey in Westport, since I’m interested in business for college and because I love clothes,” Lea Bradley’13 said. “I think the most interesting internships are ones that are in business stores around town.”

 Clearly, internships are a great opportunity to explore a passion.

 “Since I may want to teach math in the future and enjoy math, I wanted to see what a job teaching math might be like,” Michael Menz’13 said.

 Once an internship is complete, a student has a entree to a successful career.

 “I think the most popular kinds of internships are ones that are fun for students and that involve something they’re going to be pursuing later in life,” Rappaport’13 said.

 Students want to be involved in the real world and with the senior internship program, the birds are flying out of the nest.