Many students also do an internship or a university summer program following their 10th grade year. Mentors work with students individually and at group functions. Students take curriculum trips to various business, law and cultural centers in the Los Angeles area. Past examples include the Museum of Tolerance, Pacific Stock Exchange, The Federal Reserve, Fannie Mae Regional Headquarters, ARCO Corporate Headquarters, ARCO Refinery in Carson, Pacific Asian Museum in Pasadena, Museum of Contemporary Art, The Los Angeles Times , Downtown LA Public Library, and various universities in the area. Occasionally, the Academy classes take major out of town field trips, for example, a three week Fannie Mae Summer Institute in Washington D.C. and a one week college, finance and cultural tour of Northern California.
Selected students have the opportunity to meet world leaders.
Past briefings have included Boutros Boutros Ghali, James Baker III, Robert Rubin, Ross Perot, Mario Cuomo, Diane Feinstein, Barbara Boxer, Benazir Bhutto, Richard Riordan, Bill Gray, Yvonne Burke, Mark Ridley Thomas, Antonia Hernandez and Julian Dixon. Current class projects include registering community residents for citizenship, cleaning up graffiti and trash, planting trees in local parks and schools, working at Salvation Army soup kitchens and rebuilding homes through Habitat for Humanity and Christmas in April programs. Academy of Finance students are expected to take a leadership role on campus. Very often class presidents and class officers at Manual Arts are students in the Academy of Finance. Students are also encouraged to participate in extracurricular activities.