For students in Oakdale, the method of learning could transition from textbooks to Town Hall.
Islip Town and Eastern Suffolk BOCES officials said they are partnering to create an internship program that will give Eastern Long Island Academy of Applied Technology students on-the-job training.
Students at the Edward J. Milliken Technical Center in Oakdale will use the trades they are already learning, such as auto body and repair, officials said.
The 11th- and 12th-graders could work in the field at the town’s highway yards or shadow Islip employees. Students staying on campus could repair municipal cars and boats.
“It’s such a natural fit of what we’re teaching and what they need in the town,” principal Thomas McGrath said.
The terms of the internship deal are still being determined, including the number of students participating and their exact roles. The program rolled out on Thursday, when officials dropped off an older town vehicle in Oakdale to have students repair it.
The deal creates the town’s only formalized internship program, officials said. About five or six college students interned for the town in 2018, mainly performing clerical work.
The program would also be the academy’s largest partnering with a town, school officials said. Students mainly work with businesses and have previously partnered with Brookhaven and Riverhead towns.
