For Roger More, spending his summer working with computers is a step closer to his career goals than selling coffee.

Roger is an aspiring network engineer and a recent high school graduate who, along with three other young people, gained valuable real-world work experience in their chosen field this summer, thanks to a internship program with the Ulster BOCES Instructional Services department's Educational Technology division.

"This is a long-standing service," said Instructional Services Supervisor Allison Dodd. She noted that the agency has been looking to youth as a workforce for more than 20 years. "It's a great opportunity for young people to get real-world experience."

The internships not only give students the chance to get hands-on experience, but also provide them with all the benefit of working alongside professionals in their field.

The interns' primary work involves performing important preventative maintenance on computers for component districts during the summer. The program is coordinated by Electronic Communications Coordinator Bill Walton and facilitated daily by Network Supply Specialist Jeff Albert.

Roger, a 2016 graduate of the Ulster BOCES Career & Technical Center's Cisco Networking/Computer Repair program and Highland High School, said the internship was a good learning experience and much better than working in fast food.

"I was able to work in a field that I'm going into," said Roger, who began his freshman year at Johnson & Wales University earlier this fall.

Intern John Barbiani agreed. "It's somewhere to get you started and an introduction to the environment," John said.

John graduated from Fallsburg Central School District in Sullivan County and intern Nadia Boyea is a graduate of Greenville High School in Greene County, while Roger and intern Tyson Rogers both graduated from the Ulster BOCES Career & Technical Center. Tyson is also a Wallkill High School graduate.

Dodd said that Instructional Services is extremely lucky to have a talented pool of young people from within its own agency to draw from for the internship program.

"This long-standing program has provided many opportunities and a win-win for our districts and the students from the Ulster BOCES Cisco program," Dodd said.