Internships/Externships
Students start with short, immersive experiences like guest speakers and site tours, then move into hands-on internships and externships. These build employer connections, earn service hours, and offer the insights that guide students through key decisions.
Early Exploration
Guest speakers and short externships connect classroom learning to real-world careers, often with the designers and business owners inside DCOTA.
Hands-On Experience
Non-paid workplace internships offer meaningful employer connections, service hours for college applications, and practical skill-building.
Personalized Growth
By strengthening the Ohana network, we help students make confident, incremental life decisions aligned with their individual strengths and passions.
Why we start in high school
Research published by Penn State estimates that 20 to 50 percent of college freshmen enter as undecided, and about one in three bachelor's degree students change their major within three years. What if high school were where students discovered their direction, not college? And what if students with career ambitions could start earning the training, real-world experience, and internship pathways that get them there, before they graduate? That's the question Ohana Prep is built to answer.
A built-in network
Our campus sits inside a working design and business campus with more than 35 showrooms. For an Ohana Prep student, a site tour can be a walk down the hall, a guest speaker can be a neighbor, and an internship can start with a conversation at the front desk. The Ohana model has done this for years in Inlet Beach, where students have interned in veterinary and law offices, the Florida House of Representatives, and the U.S. Congress.
For DCOTA businesses and employers
If your business would like to host a site visit, speak to a class, mentor a student, or host an intern, write to admissions@ohanapreparatoryschool.org. Placements are shaped around what a student is ready for and what your team can offer.
Be part of Ohana's founding class.
Applications open December 15, 2026. Join the waitlist to hear first about info sessions, showroom visits, and scholarship guidance.