ORANGE — With the start of the academic year, Ralph C. Mahar Regional School will offer paid internships that certify students to work in the wastewater industry.

Elizabeth Zielinski, entering her fifth year as superintendent of the Ralph C. Mahar Regional and Union 73 school districts, explained the program will get off the ground with two students and educate them on the day-to-day operations of sewer departments.

“I’m very excited because I think it give kids a new and different opportunity that they never thought of before,” she said this week.

She mentioned the idea spawned out of a conversation with a Water Department employee at the Mahar Fish n’ Game Club’s annual dinner. She said the internship will teach students what goes into operating a wastewater treatment plant and the program might in the future include the town’s Water Department.

Wastewater Superintendent Oscar Rodriguez said there is statewide shortage of young people working in wastewater and taking over management positions vacated by retirees. He said his industry often has a stigma attached to it. The internships will take place at the Orange wastewater treatment plant.

“No one wants to really work with poop, I guess,” he said with a laugh. “But there’s more to it than that. There’s a lot of chemistry to it, a lot of mechanical aspects to it.”

Rodriguez, whose wife works at Mahar, said he felt this internship program would be a great way to introduce young people to the idea of a career in wastewater. He said the field generally offers great pay and benefits.

“Everyone poops, so it’s pretty much job security,” he said.

Rodriguez was raised primarily in Orange and is a Mahar alumnus, graduating in 2003. He took over for longtime Chief Operator Ed Billiel Jr. on July 1, 2023. He started working at the Orange Wastewater Treatment Facility in October 2022, having previously done contracting work for facilities across western Massachusetts. He also worked for Amherst and then at the wastewater plant at the Massachusetts Correctional Institution in Concord for most of his career.

Zielinski also mentioned Mahar is interested in adding a bookkeeping certification to an existing accounting class during the second semester of the 2024-25 academic year. The semester that starts this week, she added, will continue the paid internships in which students serve as paraprofessional at the elementary school as they prepare to take the ParaPro Assessment exam to become certified paraprofessionals.

“The schools are ready for students,” Zielinski said, adding that teachers got back in the building on Monday.

Pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students return to school on Sept. 9.

Reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com or 413-930-4120.