I spent my summer with Reach Incorporated, an education and literacy nonprofit striving to improve grade-level reading in Southeast DC public schools. I managed a cohort of students, ages 14-17, in a Summer Leadership Academy. Teens learned about resume creation, financial literacy, participated in mock interviews, and worked on summer-long projects and competitions.

I split most days shuttling between two neighborhoods. I spent half of my day in Shaw with the students in the Summer Leadership Academy, where I interacted with the teens — instructed, drummed, laughed, played basketball (not well), learned — which was my favorite part of my internship. The second half of my day was spent in Navy Yard at the Reach Incorporated office on a variety of administrative and planning tasks.

I led groups of kids in two major initiatives:

Summer Philanthropy Competition. My group wrote and practiced a pitch for Polaris Project, a DC nonprofit battling human trafficking, and presented it to their friends and families.They won second place by a popular vote and were able to donate $1,000 to Polaris Project.

Music production seminar. My group wrote and recorded a song about perseverance. They created a music video and performed it for their peers.