Read the Latest SRA News

Tuesday, 02 of October, 2007

2007 Summer Internships – “What I did over summer vacation”

Summer is one of our most challenging times of the year as many of our students are homeless or simply should not return to their old neighborhoods. Students Rising Above (SRA) is committed to providing year round support to our students, and we created a Summer Internship Committee led by volunteers Vicky Unger, and Lauren Brener, to help our students find paid summer employment. Kirsten McCarthy, our new Strategic Projects Coordinator, will focus on expanding this important effort.

When we started this program two years ago, we placed four students. This summer over 25 students were placed in summer jobs. Recently, three employers extended full-time employment to our college graduates based upon the success of their summer internships. The skills and confidence that our students receive from these experiences are invaluable to their success in college and beyond. Here are just some of their remarkable summer experiences:

Alfonso Taylor (Ohio Wesleyan) spent his summer with the East Bay Community Foundation learning the various functions within a non-profit. He also conducted off-site visits to companies, and researched murals in the Bay Area for inclusion in the foundation’s annual report.

Amanda Piercy, (UC Berkeley) interned at Morrison & Foerster LLP developing organizational systems for case files, creating work products for attorneys, and completing billing documentation.

Amily He (Harvard) worked for Malcolm Pirnie, one of the largest environmental firms in the US.

Billy Kopeikin (University of Oregon ’07) joined Wells Fargo full-time after two summer internships with the bank.

Byron Wilson (San Francisco City College) was one of six students chosen (out of 307 applicants) for the Cost Plus World Market summer internship program where he rotated through human resources, facilities, operations, and finance. He will continue to work through the school year.

Cierra Hill (University of Richmond) worked for AAA in their accounting department before starting her freshman year.

Damon Witt (UC Berkeley) worked at Bechtel for a second summer before resuming his double major in engineering and architecture.

DeMarus Allen-Batieste (Northwestern University) began his summer as the principal clarinetist in the Music Festival at Lucca, Italy and finished his summer as a marketing intern for the San Francisco based Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra writing press releases, online newsletters and concert descriptions.

Eddie Lewis (Morehouse College, ’07) worked at a children’s summer camp before returning to Atlanta to begin his full-time position with McKinsey & Co.

Enoc Lira (Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, ‘07) upon graduation, he will begin full-time employment with DES Architects and Engineers.

Evelyn Montiel (USC) spent her summer working in the McKesson Student Youth Development Program before she heads to USC in the spring.

Evita Yarborough (Long Beach State) worked in the accounting department of Tribal DDB, an interactive division of DDB. She also worked on the Glad Press’n Seal website editing and uploading consumer product tips.

Giovanni Mata (Santa Clara University) applied his chemistry knowledge to practical applications in the Chemical Engineering department at Stanford University.

Jessica Acosta (Colby College) through McKesson’s Student Youth Development Program, interned for Mother Jones Magazine. She worked in human resources and administration.

Jose Taylor (Manhattenville) worked for Design Within Reach updating their in-house HR internet site increasing employee accessibility, and conducting research into a college recruiting program.

Lily Dorman-Colby (Yale) wrote a college guide for Children in Placement and trained volunteer coordinators to help disadvantaged youth apply to colleges and for financial aid in Connecticut.

Leonard Goo (UC Berkeley) interned in the School of Public Health, Research Support Payroll Services department. He was responsible for data input of expenditures made by department faculty while learning aspects of funding in academia.

Lorna Contreras (Saint Mary’s College) worked in the accounting department of USA Marketing and will continue to work part-time during school.

Marisol Ortiz-Melandrez (UC Santa Cruz) worked for AIM High, a non-profit dedicated to encouraging under-served children to go to college. She was a teaching intern and from her summer experience she hopes to become a school teacher.

Mayra Vega (Wesleyan) another SRA student selected for McKesson’s Student Youth Program, worked at Risk Control Group in the IT department setting up the new SharePoint system. She also attended weekly meetings focused on fraud prevention and Sarbannes-Oxley (SOX).

Sean Wong (UC Berkeley) worked for one of his professors in his architecture firm gaining valuable real-life experience drafting floor plans, building design concepts and learning building codes.

Stevon Cook (Williams College) was responsible for creating a compliance program for Wells Fargo’s Corporate Credit Administration which required meeting with CCA executives and learning banking laws and regulations.

Thuy Nguyen (USF) worked for two departments at McKesson Corporation. In the mornings she worked in the IT Department, and in the afternoons in Community Relations.

Tyisha Higgins, (San Francisco State University), worked in the Department of Investigations at PMI (Private Mortgage Insurance). She requested home appraisals, requested documents from lenders, and logged files into the database.

Veronica Toscano (Santa Clara University) interned at W.L. Butler Construction and her responsibilities included collecting W-9 forms from vendors in addition to other organizational and administrative duties.

Walid Zafar (University of Puget Sound), worked in the Litigation Department of Howard Rice preparing documents for trial. Later in the summer, he worked for San Francisco Supervisor Tom Ammiano, responding to constituent concerns, researching the Municipal I.D. program, and drafting board resolutions. Walid joked “I also got coffee for Tom”.



HIGHLIGHT NEWS
The Class of 2008 attended the first annual SRA weekend retreat. Thank you to Jane Peabody Cuneo and Tony Cuneo for helping to underwrite this wonderful event at Safari West in Santa Rosa. The purpose of the weekend was to introduce the new students to one another. In addition to workshops, the students went on a Safari, touring the grounds in open air jeeps. One of the highlights of the weekend was the evening Giraffe Feed where students fed the giraffes with their bare hands. As one of the students commented, “the weekend was Giraffe-tastic!”

SAVE THE DATE
Mark your calendars now for the 5th Annual Gala scheduled for Thursday, April 3, 2008. Come meet our remarkable students and help us celebrate the 10th Anniversary of our program. Visit our website for details about the Gala and purchase tickets online for this sell-out event.


STUDENT OUTREACH AND SELECTION
We are looking for volunteers who will call and visit high schools in the 11-county Bay Area to encourage counselors, faculty, and administrators to recommend students to our program. We are particularly interested in reaching out to students in the West Contra Costa and Santa Clara school districts. As always, we encourage students of all ethnicities to apply.

Volunteers will visit nearby high schools describing our program, application process and deadline, and selection qualifications and process. We will provide you with informational packets and training in advance of your visits. Application and selection information is also detailed on our website: www.studentsrisingabove.org

If you or someone you know, would like to get involved in this important effort, please email Lisa Kossiver at lkossi@yahoo.com. Your efforts will make a huge difference in the life of deserving student.


THANK YOU
On August 11, we held our Off-to-College Day for the Class of 2007 and focused on a variety of topics including how to budget in college and avoid credit problems, access healthcare resources; and plan for a summer internship. It was an exciting celebration as the students received their brand new laptops generously underwritten by The Julia Burke Foundation, and containers filled with school supplies courtesy of Sharon and Jim Kendall of Impact Merchandising. The National Charity League, East Bay Chapter, assembled the boxes and delivered them to the students. It was a day our students will long remember. Thank you!

SRA WISH LIST

Storage
We need storage space of at least 10’ x 10’ or larger, to house SRA furniture items and supplies. Preferably the space is centrally located with easy access. Please contact us at (415) 333.4222 if you know of an available space offered at reduced rates.

Laptops
SRA holds workshops throughout the year for our students assisting them with their college applications, college essays, and financial aid. In the past, we conducted the workshops with borrowed laptops. We need 20 new or gently-used basic laptops with internet access capability. SRA would own and store the laptops for future workshops. Suggestions on how to obtain these much needed laptops can be directed to Barb Hendricks at bhendricks@studentsrisingabove.org

.