Mentor Orientation Prepares Corporate Partners for Their New Interns

On Friday, September 9th, Nazareth Prep hosted Mentor Orientation to train our mentors for the upcoming year and give them an opportunity to meet their student interns.

As Nazareth Prep students settle into a new school year, their Internship Program mentors are preparing to welcome their new “employees.” On Friday, September 9, professionals from over 75 local corporations and nonprofits attended orientation to learn about what to expect as a mentor and how to maximize the benefits of the Internship Program for our students and their company.

This year, Nazareth Prep is welcoming 21 new companies as Internship Partners, including innovators in the tech sector, nonprofit organizations furthering important causes, established legal firms, universities, and real estate companies, and more. Along with the dozens of returning Internship Partners, these companies enable us to connect Nazareth Prep students to the corporate world and explore career paths in a variety of fields.

Ron Graziani, Senior Vice President, Manager of Property & Casualty at First National Insurance Agency, has been an Internship Partner for the past three years and believes the program is invaluable not only for the students, but also for the professionals working alongside them.

“I really believe that this program gives these young people a 10-yard head start in a 100-yard dash,” Ron said of his Nazareth Prep interns, “I think there’s a cultural benefit. On the Thursdays we had our mentees in, there was a morale boost and the team on the floor had really rallied around, making sure that the Nazareth Prep student felt comfortable.”

With enthusiastic mentors like Ron and so many others, our students are getting access to experiences and knowledge that prepare them for life after high school and helps them explore the wide array of post-secondary pathways available to them. Each of the 35 members of the class of 2022 graduated with a clear plan for post-secondary education or career – 65% to four-year colleges and universities, 23% to two-year colleges and technical schools, 6% to the United States military, and 6% directly to the workforce.

The success of Nazareth Prep and its students is highly dependent on constructive partnerships with employers in our region. As we kick off another year of internships, we look forward to building those relationships and continuing to re-envision Pittsburgh’s workforce of tomorrow.