Last Friday, several District of Columbia students, myself included, filed onto the 8th floor of the Watergate building. We were all interns with The Urban Alliance Foundation, and were there to get professional help from newspaper editors, lawyers, and other successful people, including my mentor Lisa Kays, on our college essays.
It is routine and mandatory that each Friday afternoon all interns attend a workshop class. During this time, we are informed of events, discuss events that have happened during the work week, and are educated about key things to know when working in a professional environment and also that you will need throughout life–such as professional attire, how to use technology and managing money and bank accounts.
Since interns are seniors in high school, we have also been focusing a lot on college and making plans, setting goals and working to reach those goals. We have been discussing applications and different scholarships that are available for us to receive. Over the last few weeks, we have been drafting our college essay.
The dreadful college essay that most of us fear. The one thing that is going to set you aside from hundreds of thousands of other applicants applying to the same school.
There have been several editors and writers who have come in and talked to the classes as a whole about writing our essays. But on Friday, everyone received that one-on-one attention that they needed.
We were paired up with a professional and then sat in a quiet area where we could focus and really think.
It was very helpful to get this sort of help. Little things that you might not catch, another person will, and it is those little things that can make a writing piece excellent.
It was a very successful event. No one was rude or judgmental towards anyone’s writing. They were only helpful in as many ways possible.
In the end, every last intern walked away with a sense of confidence that they can write an excellent essay, and that it is going to get them into the college of their choosing.
Tia Felton is a senior at McKinley Tech High School and an intern at The Women’s Foundation through Urban Alliance–a Grantee Partner of The Women’s Foundation. When she graduates from high school this year, she hopes to go to college and eventually to become a lawyer.
To learn more about the Urban Alliance internship program, click here.
