This past summer, seven students from neighboring school districts served as interns at Sea-Tac International Airport.

The summer high school internship program was revamped to offer more paid openings and an enrichment program designed to give interns a glimpse into the variety of careers at an airport.

Roman Sereke and Levon Dunn, both from the Tyee High complex in SeaTac Abby Kassa from Foster High School in Tukwila were among the interns.

Drew Collins, Colton Goss, Miles Daniels-Pavich and Michael Mondragon, all from Aviation High School, also took part in the program

The maintenance, public affairs, community development, training, planning, environmental, and project management departments hosted the interns.

"Behind the scenes, there's so much going on,' said Mondragon.

His internship in aviation planning and the environmental programs department had him working on everything from data-rich spreadsheets to helping count trees in the airport's wetlands.

"I learned there's a whole other side to the airport...it's not just ticketing and planes," Mondragon added.

Along with individual assignments, interns, through the enrichment program took part in tours visiting a number of areas rarely seen by the public.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) air traffic control tower, the new third runway, the fire and police departments, the wetland mitigation area, and the satellite transit system were some of the spots interns explored on exclusive tours.

The interns also had weekly lunches with senior airport management, including Fire Chief Ed Campbell and Police Chief Colleen Wilson.

"Sea-Tac has hosted high school interns for a number of years. But this year the airport developed a more coordinated program," explained Aviation Community Relations Manager Marco Milanese. "It allows for not only the interns to get to know each other better, but it also provides them with a broader perspective of all that is going on at the airport."

One of the highlights of the students' internships was participation in the Triennial Aircraft Collision Exercise (Tri-ACE), an FAA mandated emergency simulation that took place on the third runway in July.

Amongst smoking aircraft wreckage, many of the interns played the role of victims, while fire and police responders from throughout the area converged on the scene.

Daniels-Pavich, working in aviation training, helped to coordinate the exercise.

"The Tri-ACE was really a challenging event," he explained. "The amount of work and preparation that went into the exercise was immense, and I am proud I was able to play a role."

For many of the interns, this was their first real job and their first glimpse of life after high school.

Friends, work experience and the knowledge gained over the three months will be invaluable tools as the students begin taking steps in preparation for their eventual careers, airport staffers said.

The officials urged Highline and Tukwila students to apply for next year's program.

Applications will be available in the spring.