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Not every high school student gets to be a radio station's guest three times in a year. But Alicia Escoto believes those appearances, part of her internship with the National Hispanic Communications Group, are just a small part of the first step in her media and public advocacy career.

Escoto, an Albert Einstein High School senior from Silver Spring, got her internship as a member of the Superintendent's Leadership Program, which is largely funded by Montgomery County Public Schools. Every year SLP selects up to 25 students who work in internships, some of them paid, for 15 hours a week with organizations ranging from Morgan Stanley Smith Barney and UBS to the World Affairs Council in Washington, D.C.

Students also attend leadership seminars with local public officials, provide support for county charitable organizations such as A Wider Circle, and this year even crafted a 25-page marketing plan for Friends of the Library, which supports county public libraries.

"It really has expanded my leadership skills," said Escoto, who also was the team leader for creating the Friends of the Library plan.

Students also receive the equivalent of credit for four honors classes if they participate in SLP for a full year.

But the unique opportunities the program provides probably won't save it from the budget ax. In his spending plan for fiscal 2012, Superintendent of Schools Jerry D. Weast has proposed cutting the $50,000 the school system provides for SLP, a drop in the bucket for the $2.16 billion budget but well over half of the leadership program's annual operating budget.

SLP Director Kim Jones said she is trying to create a public-private partnership with businesses and nonprofit organizations so the program can secure the funds to continue next year. SLP already receives between $10,000 and $20,000 to support transportation and other needs from nonprofit groups, donations and other sources. She is assuming her program won't survive in the school's next budget.

She also said she is trying to create an arrangement with a college or university that would give collegiate academic credit for SLP students.

"We try to go after a broader group of kids," Jones said. "And not all of them have the highest GPAs. But they've got the desire and the passion; they're willing to learn."

Jones' effort may provide a model for similar small programs outside the classroom supported by the school system that may not survive the shrinking dollars available to schools.

"It really is going to be about looking for new options for funding and support," said Board of Education President Christopher S. Barclay (Dist. 4) of Takoma Park, who said he has attended every SLP graduation ceremony since he joined the school board in 2006.

Since Rockville Economic Development Inc., which focuses on business retention, relocation and entrepreneurship in the city, began taking SLP interns in 2005, Associate Director Lynne Benzion said the students (who are not paid) have conducted research projects for the organization and accompanied the group's leadership to business visits. It is one of the few opportunities for students to participate in and understand the county's business world, she said.

"It is really the most direct work force link that is out there today, and the quality of the students is extraordinary," Benzion said.

North Potomac's Jason Luo, who attended Thomas S. Wootton High School, can trace his academic interest in financial services while at the University of Virginia to his SLP internship at UBS, where he met with clients and conducted hypothetical studies on retirement options. Today, while working for a private equity firm in Beijing, he still considers Jones a mentor.

In an interview Thursday, Luo said he was speaking to a reporter right before a job interview with a financial firm in New York.

"For all the recruiting, for all the job interviews after that, I felt very confident about what I had already done," Luo said of SLP.

aujifusa@gazette.net