WILTON – Selectmen voted unanimously Tuesday to fund a new Mt. Blue High School internship program, using the proceeds of a 1950s donation earmarked for education.

The Charles L. Green fund, a tidy $89,000, has been in limbo for years after reverting back to the town when other claimants to Green’s estate died, Selectman Paul Gooch said Wednesday. Now, nearly a half century after Charles Green died, the bequest’s interest has been allocated to a new internship program, Gooch said.

Mt. Blue Principal Joe Moore and Academy Hill Principal Darlene Paine presented their internship program idea to selectmen Tuesday night, Town Manager Peter Nielsen said. “I think everybody was very impressed with the presentation and the idea,” he said.

The program is designed to place junior and senior Mt. Blue students in internship positions at area schools and businesses, to give them a taste of different job opportunities and give them learning opportunities outside the classroom.

“Sometimes kids get into stuff like this and find their calling,” Gooch said, recalling Moore’s presentation. “Joe was telling us last night that he has seen, in his experience in previous schools, some youngsters who do internships will actually carry it into their future.”

SAD 9 will have about $5,700 – or two years’ worth of accrued interest – to spend this year while they start the program. In the future, the stipend will probably be about half that, Gooch said, depending on how the money is invested. To that end, board members asked Nielsen to investigate the way the money is invested and make sure it’s making the most possible.

Selectmen also voted to bring up discontinuing Packard Drive at the request of the road’s sole property owner at the next town meeting.