At LHS, students have unique opportunities as public school attendees that they may not be aware of. LHS senior Andy Malaterre knows better than most.

One such venture is enrollment at the Career and Technical Education (CTE) building, which many LHS students have taken advantage of.

As is the case with Malaterre, whose interest in mathematics and finance led him to take courses in the Academy of Finance, a sub-department within CTE. The benefits Malaterre reaped and will continue to acquire from his experience are exemplar of LHS achievement.

Malaterre noted that LHS faculty and general promotion of the program prompted his own investigation into the Academy.

“I learned about it through my math teacher,” said Malaterre. “They were advertising the Academy of Finance, and [as] finance was always something I wanted to go into, I decided to look into it a little more.”

After researching, Malaterre signed up for the entry level course at the Academy his junior year. However, he didn’t stop there; just one class had hooked the budding financial virtuoso.

“I signed up for Accounting I and I tried that out,” said Malaterre. “Through that, I got into the next level of classes, which was Financial Services and Banking & Credit, and I continued through that.”

The continuation of his course work set him up for another special opportunity.

“The Intro to Financial Services class…involved signing up for an internship,” said Malaterre. “We had to interview with different companies and do different tasks to prepare for our internship.”

Malaterre’s internship was with LifeScape, a local non-profit organization that provides therapy and psychological services for children and adults. Over the summer, the senior committed his time and energy to the extracurricular tutelage, helping out and learning the ropes of the finances of an enterprise.

“It was 200 hours,” said Malaterre. “The companies were flexible with the hours; I did 40 hours a week so mine was five weeks—and you get $1500 for doing it.”

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the payoff was worth the effort, according to Malaterre. However, the pay itself was not all that attracted the LHS student.

“It was hard; it was not necessarily a fun way to spend your summer,” said Malaterre. “But I feel like it was worth it. I got to learn a lot about financing and accounting, I got to see the different aspects inside accounting, and work with different people.”

Malaterre reflects on the LifeScape internship as an integral part of his CTE experience. In return, his accomplishments and outlook for the future reflect back on the overall excellency of the student body at LHS.

“I learned a lot,” said Malaterre. “It was just a nice atmosphere and a good experience, overall.”

Correction: November 29th, 2018

The introduction of this story has been edited for clarity.