Interest is a unique internal motivator of learning that can be sustained and developed by outside influences. A challenge in rural areas is instilling interest in young adults to pursue careers local industries demand in order to mitigate rural out-migration. The purpose of this mixed methods intervention study was to determine if and explain how an authentic, experiential learning intervention affected situational career interest development in rural middle school students in career and technical education courses. Another objective was to identify whether student-teacher relationships interacted with the learning experiences in the effect. The study was framed by the Social Cognitive Career Theory and informed by the four-phase model of interest development. David Kolb's Experiential Learning Theory and tenets of authentic learning practices were used to design the intervention. I used an intervention mixed methodology and an intra-study replication. The purpose of the qualitative strand was to determine how students perceived their interest development in the career topic and their student-teacher relationships. Methods included a pre-post comparison group intervention interest inventory, post-intervention student-teacher relationship survey, and a post-intervention semi-structured interview. The purpose of the mixed method integration was to add to the body of knowledge of the career interest development phenomenon and inform rural career and technical education stakeholders. Findings from both quantitative and qualitative phases indicated the situational interest in CTE topics grew within students after time in their CTE rotation classes. Students attributed this growth to their engaging, concrete experiences and to the utility of the careers to the real world. However, the effect of their teachers implementing the authentic, experiential classroom intervention was unclear. Student-teacher relationships positively related to students' situational interests in CTE topics, but they did not relate to interest growth. However, students described their teachers to be trustworthy and caring and their experiences to be fun. Gender did affect situational interest growth within participants, and students who were males were more likely to experience changes in interest. I discussed implications for Kolb's theory and for career theories to include authentic constructs. Finally, I included recommendations for practice in career and technical education in rural areas and future research in interest development. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]