Saving tens of thousands of dollars in college tuition, participating in an internship and meeting the CEO of GE Aerospace are some of the achievements of SENIOR Andrew Rhoades.

Interning with GE Aerospace through INTERalliance, a non-profit organization focused on information technology internships for high school students, was extremely beneficial for Rhoades.

“[INTERalliance has] a program where you can apply to internships with multiple companies throughout the Greater Cincinnati area, like [General Electric], Procter & Gamble and Fifth Third,” Rhoades said.

Rhoades got to interact with college interns, employees with years of experience, and even Larry Culp, the CEO of GE Aerospace.

“I was encouraged to network and set up meetings with employees throughout the company that I didn’t know [so I could] meet them and learn about their experiences,” Rhoades said.

INTERalliance interns earn an average of $4,500 over a ten week period.

“[The paid aspect of the internship] was a contributing factor and the advice I’ve always heard is to never take an unpaid internship,” Rhoades said. “Even though you have less experience and you’re learning, you are still contributing to that company and you should be paid for your time.”.

Rhoades’s internship was a huge factor in reserving money for his college tuition, but he also utilized other resources to help him save.

“I joined an [educational] program called Next Engineers, which also happens to be sponsored by GE Aerospace,” Rhoades said. “At the end of that program, everyone in the program [gets] $20,000 scholarships.”

Additionally, Rhoades has been taking courses through College Credit Plus (CCP), a program which allows students to simultaneously earn high school and college credit.

“CCP is an amazing tool for high schoolers, because it’s free,” Rhoades said. “[Cincinnati Public Schools] covers the cost situation; it’s really twice as many credits with half the [time] commitment.” 

Rhoades tries to schedule his classes for only two or three days of the week. On the other days, he works two part time jobs.

“My advice would be [to take] four CCP classes per semester,” Rhoades said. “That will get you eight credits in high school, which is more than the normal year, and it’s not an unbearable amount of workload.” 

Rhoades feels that even with his CCP workload and summer interning, he still has opportunities to get a taste of the typical teenage high school experience.

“There’s still lots of time in your day to take place in different Walnut activities,” Rhoades said. “There’s definitely time for the football games, homecoming, prom, all of it.” 

Rhoades highly recommends CCP classes to other WHHS students.

“Even if you don’t know what major you want to go [into] yet, a lot of majors require basic classes like Calculus and English,” Rhoades said. “Getting those classes out of the way is very beneficial.” 

Rhoades estimates he has already completed three full semesters at the University of Cincinnati, the college he hopes to attend.

“I’m either going to graduate early or I’m planning to do lots of co-ops, which are very similar to internships, they’re just tied with the university,” Rhoades said.

Rhoades is appreciative of his opportunities to intern and participate in college level courses.

“This has been an amazing experience; it’s saved lots of money and lots of time,” Rhoades said.