Future Focus: How KIPP Philly High School Students Land Competitive Summer Internships
Summer internships are often difficult for high school students to obtain. Many students desire to have a meaningful summer enrichment experience, but due to the competitiveness and scarcity of paid opportunities, they are often left out and relegated to sit idly as the summer passes them by. This is unfortunate because summer internships not only assist high school students in exploring career interests, but they also give students a leg up when it comes to college admissions. Luckily, KIPP Philadelphia has a program called Future Focus that combats this issue head on.
Future Focus is a college and career-readiness program aimed at introducing rising high school seniors to the professional world. Developed in partnership with Accenture, the program has been implemented in nine KIPP regions thus far. In 2013–2014, Future Focus was successfully launched in KIPP Philadelphia Schools.
As a Future Focus fellow, students are able to build awareness of the variety of careers available to them and develop the skills, habits, and behaviors needed in today’s professional environment. The year-long program culminates in a summer internship for rising high school seniors, that promotes connections between academic learning and potential careers.
This summer, we are shining a spotlight on six of our Future Focus KIPPsters who are completing internships at various sites around the city. Read more about the work that they are doing below:

Meet Jada Taylor! This summer, Jada is interning at Glaxosmithkline, a science-led global healthcare company that researches, develops and manufactures innovative pharmaceutical medicines, vaccines and consumer healthcare products. As their Legal Division intern, her responsibilities include administrative operations, meeting management, and providing operational support for special events. When asked about her favorite aspect of working at Glaxosmithskline, Jada replied, “[My favorite part is] the people, everyone is friendly and ready to help out. They check in on me and I never feel out of place, everyone makes me feel comfortable.” Jada plans on majoring in business administration when she attends college and aspires to own her own company one day.

Meet Shania Lewis! This summer, Shania is interning at Squash Smarts, an intensive after school and summer program that provides free squash instruction as well as long term academic tutoring to under-served youth from Philadelphia public schools. At Squash Smarts, Shania is responsible for planning and leading an academic program once a day, as well as overseeing the middle school students as they participate in activities. One of her long-term projects includes creating a film about this summer at Squash Smarts, to be shown at their very own film festival. Shania enjoys the “active nature” of her internship. She aspires to be a neurosurgeon or physical fitness trainer for professional athletes.

Meet Karim Palmer Reid! This summer, Karim is interning at Philadelphia Electric Company (PECO) which services over 2.1 million energy customers in the Philadelphia Metropolitan area. While interning at PECO, Karim is tasked with supporting the large customer service department with billing, account inquiries, and critical background. Karim’s favorite part of interning at PECO has been working with current PECO engineers. “Spending time with the engineers has helped me learn about different types of engineering, and what it takes to pursue a career in the field”. Karim is interested in attending Pennsylvania State University, and majoring in either business or engineering.

Meet Caprice White! This summer, Caprice is interning at Temple University Hospital serving as a Guest Relations intern. Temple University Hospital is a premier teaching hospital which serves thousands of patients in the North Philadelphia area. As a Guest Relations intern, she is responsible for making sure that patients are having a positive experience during their hospital visit. This includes traveling to multiple floors throughout the day, making rounds, speaking with patients and visitors, and jotting down any concerns to be relayed back to the Guest Relations office. Caprice enjoys the unpredictability of her job, and being able to interact with the hospital population in a positive way. Caprice aspires to become a psychologist, she feels like the communications and hospitality aspect of the internship aligns with her career goals.

Meet Dameeyah Floyd! This summer, Dameeyah is interning as a staff assistant in the office of Pennsylvania State Representative Christopher Rabb, in the 200th legislative district. The state representative’s local office serves as a space for members of the community to voice their concerns and stay up to date on policies passing through the legislature. As a staff assistant, Dameeyah’s responsibilities include constituent services, mail delivery, communications, and event-planning. Her favorite aspect of the job is canvassing and meeting with neighbors. Dameeyah’s career goals include becoming a History teacher.
Meet Khaleanna Ferguson! This summer, Khaleanna is also interning as a staff assistant in PA State Representative Christopher Rabb’s office. Like Dameeyah, Khaleanna’s role includes material organization, constituent service, mail delivery, communications and event planning. She enjoys being able to plan and attend events as well as reflect on her growth. Khaleanna is interested in community development as a career.
Future Focus wouldn’t be the program that it is without our dedicated partners. Host organizations provide students with a meaningful, applied summer-learning opportunity. Interested in learning more about how you can support the Future Focus program? Contact Stephen Garlington, Director of College and Career Readiness at KIPP Philadelphia Schools at sgarlington@kippphiladelphia.org.
