Urban Leadership Interns Help Students Aim Big
Urban Leadership students are doing internships at four elementary schools, working with 4th and 5th graders in 21st Century Community Learning programs.
Bright (the nearby golden dome of the state capitol was aglow) and early (it wasn’t yet 7:30 AM) at Capitol View Elementary on Tuesday morning three high school interns were huddled up, going over their lesson plan for a session with a group of 4th and 5th graders who participate in the school’s 21st Century Community Learning Center extracurricular program.
Minutes later the kids filed in, right on time, many of them carrying cases that contained musical instruments. The boys’ hair was neatly combed. The girls’ pigtails and ponytails were tightly held in place by pretty scrunchies. All the young faces in the room were fresh scrubbed, wide-eyed, alert and expectant. The teens and the miniatures instantly connected like a plug and a socket. It was on.
“It” is a branch of the Urban Leadership curriculum at Central Campus. Twelve students from UL 102 have been placed at four DMPS elementary schools (King, Hillis and River Woods in addition to Capitol View) to work with minority students and earn college credits during an eight-week internship that’s an exercise in career exploration for them and, it would appear, an absolute joy for the 4th and 5th graders.
Capitol View is served by a trio from East High. Montesha Carter and Jessika Hayes are seniors. Madison Garcia is a junior. They meet with their group twice weekly. Tuesday’s lesson was about goal-setting. What do the kids want to be when they grow up? Maybe more to the point, what do they want to do?
They want to build hospitals. They want to own businesses. They want to be soccer players and gymnasts and pediatricians and veterinarians and writers. They want to have children.
Rachel wants to own a hospital and Carlos wants to donate some of the money he’ll earn playing soccer to help that hospital cure cancer. Goaaal!
“Now you’re talkin’,” said Rachel.
Somebody else said they want to discover new information about distant planets. Rachel’s impression of that?
“Keep it comin’!”
Everybody gathered at a roundtable and listed their grand personal plans on paper in brightly colored markers before sharing them with the group. Their handwriting was as neat and confident and bright as their appearance.
There was no telling who was enjoying the time spent together more, the high schoolers or the grade schoolers.
“All of you guys talked about what you want to do for others,” Montesha told them. “That’s so cool to hear that you’re not just thinking about yourselves.”
Watching in the background was Emily Lang who, along with Kristopher Rollins, developed and coordinates the Urban Leadership curriculum. She, too, was beaming at the interaction between her protégés and theirs.
“Each group of interns is responsible for writing four lesson plans,” she explained. “And they share them with their counterparts at the other schools.”
Collectively they develop 16 lessons to cover the eight weeks x two sessions per internship.
It’s difficult to make the logistics work. Different building schedules and student schedules and transportation routes have to be juggled to come up with something workable. Taxis have been used. Lang and Rollins give rides. Whatever it takes. Because it’s worth it. And it’s growing. Besides the 12 interns in UL 102, there are 90 students enrolled in UL 101 this year, according to Lang, a big jump from a year ago.
This is before school stuff and it’s like a hymn being sung to the new day. The only thing that stopped the group Tuesday morning was the announcement coming over the intercom that it was time for the Pledge of Allegiance. Boy, did it sound good there at Capitol View Tuesday morning. Especially that last part about “liberty and justice for all.” Not to mention goals, soccer and otherwise, out there in futures as bright as the fresh sunlight splashing over the statehouse across the street.
Next semester the interns will rotate into stints with community nonprofit agencies. Besides Montesha, Madison and Jessika, the other interns are:
- Jahleel Brazzle (East)
- Sam Buckton (Hoover)
- Kendall Helm (East)
- Jasmine Inthabounh (North)
- Tre’Vawn Jarrett (North)
- Jenna Jensen (North)
- Jolena Le (North)
- Cesar Marfal (North)
- Michael Sunga (North)
Video of Urban Leadership Interns at Capitol View
Photos of Urban Leadership Interns at Capitol View
