Tues. July 8, 2008
Real World Exposure Builds Students’ Skills, Competitiveness
While Benefiting Downtown
WASHINGTON, DC – Eight summer interns have joined the Downtown DC Business Improvement District (BID) as office assistants and hospitality and information aides as part of a partnership with the Department of Employment Services’ (DOES) Summer Youth Program and the DC Chamber of Commerce. The students will be experiencing firsthand business challenges and opportunities in their hometown.
All are DC residents enrolled in colleges along the Eastern Seaboard from Pennsylvania to Georgia. Four are working throughout the Downtown BID as office assistants, while four others are working with Downtown SAMs as hospitality and information aides learning customer service skills and building knowledge of Downtown attractions and services. The hospitality and information aides can be seen staffing information kiosks near Metro stations and in busy pedestrian areas within the Downtown BID area.
“We’re very proud and pleased to have young people working with us again this summer,” says Richard Bradley, executive director of the Downtown BID. “It’s extremely important that local businesses give these young, DC residents the opportunity to gain skills necessary to compete successfully in today’s labor market. In the long run, the students, our local economy, communities and city benefit. The Downtown BID certainly benefits from the students’ contributions, and we are once again grateful for their service and youthful enthusiasm.”
The 2008 summer interns are as follows:
· Ebony Bazemore – Elizabeth City State University (Political Science)
· Ashley Hall – Clark Atlanta University (Political Science)
· Kirk Jones – University of Pittsburgh (Business)
· Thomeisha Peterson – University of Maryland Eastern Shore (Business Administration/Finance)
· Jerrod Bowling – Millersville University/Temple University (Forensic Pathology)
· Malcolm McCuiston – Delaware State University (Social Work)
· Chakia Thompson – South Carolina State University (Social Work)
· Michael Watson – Frostburg State University (Psychology)
Eighteen-year-old Jerrod Bowling, a graduate of DC’s Archbishop Carroll High School, begins his second year of college in the fall as a transfer student at Temple University. Jerrod says working as a hospitality and information aide is challenging in the summer heat, but the experience bolsters his resume and is a stepping-stone toward gaining future work opportunities. “Eventually, I want to work with the FBI, in the DC Morgue, at a hospital, or in medical research at a university,” he says.
Summer hospitability aides such as Jerrod greet visitors and guide them to many cultural, entertainment and dining spots, as well as other services, and during the busy tourist season are a welcome addition to the cadre of safety and hospitality SAMs who serve the Downtown community every day. This year marks the tenth consecutive summer of the hospitality aide program and a five-year-old partnership with DOES.
“I am excited and energized by the huge turnout of youth workers this year,” says DOES Director Summer Spencer. “It is an indication that we are connecting with our youth, that they understand that it is critical for them to begin preparing for tomorrow’s competitive global economy today.”
More than 21,000 young people registered with the 2008 Passport-to-Work Summer Program at DOES. The DC Chamber of Commerce has partnered with DOES to provide 300 of them with a minimum of 10 weeks employment in private sector jobs, including paid, pre-employment training prior to job placement. The Chamber says the benefits to employers include an early start on the training of possible future employees, new technology and innovative ideas that students bring into an organization, and diversity within an organization’s workforce.
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