Picture a young woman preparing to graduate high school, looking forward to a summer of fun hanging out with friends before heading off to college to pursue her dream career.

Would you expect to find her in a manufacturing plant in an industrial area of Bristol? Probably not. But that’s exactly where you’ll find Teagan Jones, a 17-year-old senior about to graduate from Mt. Hope High School.

“This was not in the plans,” said Ms. Jones in her office at East Bay Manufacturing on Franklin Street. “I planning on going to CCRI, majoring in marketing and expanding my marketing business.”

Preparing for her future, Ms. Jones jumped at the chance this spring to join an internship program created by the East Bay Chamber of Commerce, local business owners and the Bristol-Warren Regional School District. Students toured a handful of local companies willing to take on the high school interns, including Tri-Mack Plastics, Jade Engineered Plastics, WaterRower and East Bay Manufacturing. While a manufacturing plant that makes machine parts may not seem on the surface to be a dream job for a young woman about to graduate high school, Teagan saw opportunity.

“I knew right away this is the place for me,” Ms. Jones said. “People have an image of an old factory - dirty, dingy, how manufacturing was in the 1800s. It’s a different environment than people expect. There are a lot more opportunities in manufacturing than meet the eye.”

Ms. Jones has found an opportunity in manufacturing to pursue her marketing business dreams. She has worked on promoting the company’s products, improving its social media presence, blogging about the company and her experience, and starting a customer newsletter. Teagan has brought to the company a new energy and a fresh perspective on the industry, according to East Bay Manufacturing owner Lou Victorino, as well as a firm grasp of new technology, which he said the industry needs.

“A lot of what we have to deal with is changing so fast, and technology doesn’t run without proper employees,” Mr. Victorino said. “That’s tough to get. You can look for it from the outside or you can train young people. It’s easier to take new minds and show them the business.”

That’s why Mr. Victorino involved his company in the internship program. Though, he said he was wary at first.

“I was concerned with how to handle the kids. I didn’t know if they’d be good or bad,” he said. “Teagan changed my mind on that. She’s a sponge - just soaks everything up. She gives me hope for the next generation, that there are young people for this business.”

Mr. Victorino was so impressed with Ms. Jones that he has offered her a full-time job, which she has accepted and will begin in the fall — while going to school at night — after working part-time through the summer.

Part of her summer will be spent expanding a new venture for which Mr. Victorino approached Ms. Jones. Wanting to give back to the community, Mr. Victorino envisioned a non-profit sales business that would donate all profits to charity. He tasked Ms. Jones with creating goods4good.

“He wanted to teach me how to run a business from the ground up,” Ms. Jones said. “I came up with the name and logo, hired a student to design the logo, chose the products we would sell and ordered them.”

The company’s goal is two-fold — to support local businesses and artisans, and to give back to the community. Ms. Jones buys products like candles, body lotions, soaps and ornaments from local merchants and sells them for a profit, all of which is donated to charity. Currently, goods4good is donating all to Haiti’s Child, which supports the health and education of Haitian children. Ms. Jones is looking for local charities to support as well. Any non-profit interested can apply on the company website at goods4goodonline.com.

“This will help support local businesses. Maybe they have a good product, but don’t know how to sell it,” Ms. Jones said. “We want to expand it as far as possible. And we want to expend to include more local charities.”

In addition to good4good, Ms. Jones will be promoting East Bay Manufacturing and educating the public on manufacturing processes and equipment like the Microblaster, a machine that literally blasts away burrs on machined parts.

Plus, she has her own venture — New Generation Marketing (marketwithteagan.com), for which she already has two local clients lined up. Her experience at East Bay Manufacturing, and the lessons she’s learning from Mr. Victorno will help her accomplish her dream of creating her own marketing firm, she said.

“Experience is invaluable. This will give me real-life experience,” Ms. Jones said. “I knew I really wanted to work here. I knew this was the place for me.”

Mr. Victorino is equally thrilled to have her in the fold.

“She’s going to give us a new look with marketing and social media,” he said. “It’s something we’ve never really had before. She’s really going to help us.”