Summer Internships

We are excited to have had another successful summer with our summer high school interns.  This year the group included: Celestial Bedford, a senior at Spoto High School; Jordan Fernandes, a senior at Jesuit High School; Alexa Holcomb, a senior at Jefferson High School; Tahseen Ismail, a recent graduate of Hillsborough High School; Alexis Magnan-Calloway, a senior at Academy at the Lakes; Sherena Murdock, a recent graduate of Middleton High School and Kristie Serrano, a senior at Freedom High School.  The focus of this year’s summer research was on Positive Youth Development.

Interns for 2007

Celestial Bedford is a senior at Spoto High School in Riverview.  She is an active member of her high school’s student government and enjoys being involved in community service projects.  After graduation, she plans on attending college and her intent is to major in pre-law, but she would also like to model.

Celestial sees herself as a leader and says that she is patient and proficient with computers.  In her free time, she relaxes by singing and dancing.

Celestial hopes to learn more about Positive Youth Development through her internship.  She is also interested in the research behind the PYD and hopes to learn how to read and analyze psychological data that will be gathered through the community projects.

Jordan Fernandes is a senior at Jesuit High School in Tampa.  He is a member of the Nation Honor Society, the Spanish Honor Society and is a Key Club member.  In his free time he works as an active volunteer in migrant worker camps in the area and has spent time teaching vacation bible school.  He is a member of the Tampa Bay youth orchestra, playing the violin, a hobby he began at 5 years of age.  He hopes to attend Georgetown or Boston College and he plans on studying medicine with hopes of becoming an anesthesiologist.

Jordan sees himself as well organized, modest, optimistic leader.  When he isn’t volunteering, attending school or working, he likes to play baseball and football, as well as travel.

He hopes that the Positive Youth Development internship will help him make a difference in the community.  He is looking forward to working in the community and hope to gain valuable experience from the internship.

Alexa Holcomb is a senior at Jefferson High School. She is treasurer of the senior student council and is an active member of the National Honor Society, the Spanish Honor Society and Students Working Against Tobacco (SWAT). She is also a member of the Florida Public Service Association and the Tampa Mayor’s Youth Corps. Last summer she worked with USF and the CUTR Center on a community service initiative and she enjoys giving her time to the Make-A-Wish Foundation and the American Lung Association as a volunteer. She plans on attending either USF or UF next year and intends on majoring in pre-law.

Alexa sees herself as organized and prompt and enjoys working with groups. She says that she is a good listener and always finishes her work on time. In her free time Alexa is an avid swimmer who will be joining Jefferson’s swim team in the fall. To relax, Alexa likes to sing and play the piano, both of which she has been doing since she was a child.

Tahseen Ismail graduated from Hillsborough High School this past may and will be attending USF in the fall semester. She is interested in science and engineering and has volunteered at Red Crescent Medical Clinic, Tampa General Hospital and Emory University’s Stroke Research Lab. She has also participated and won an award at the 2007 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair held at Emory University.  She is a member of her high school Latin club as well as the National Latin Society.

Tahseen sees herself as organized and as a researcher.  Her interests include Asian cultures, societies and languages, but she is especially interested in South Korea.  She spends her free time relaxing by reading and spending time with her friends.

Alexis Magnan-Calloway is an Academy at the Lakes Senior this year and is a prospective USF student.  This fall she will be taking 7 advanced placement courses and has been elected to the planning committee of her student council.  She is a member of the Tampa Mayor’s Youth Corp and is an anchor on “From the Corps,” a monthly Tampa television news program that is designed to relay important information to youths.  She is also a volunteer with the Shriner’s Hospital for Children, gets involved with community clean-up projects and works with her family to help serve food at Metropolitan Ministries on Thanksgiving and Christmas..

Alexis sees herself as a leader with a good attitude. When she isn’t busy with school and volunteer work, she likes to surf, swim, play with her dog and hang out with her good friends.

Thus far Alexis feels that she has learned a lot from the Positive Youth Development internship. She has enjoyed the learning process and looks forward to getting out into the community. When asked about the internship she said, “[Positive Youth Development] is really important and a great approach to looking at things. I’m really glad I have the opportunity to be contributing to PYD research and be involved in PYD community projects through this internship.”

Sherena Murdock graduated with honors from Middleton High School this past May and will be attending Florida A&M in the fall. Her plan is to major in Pharmacology and minor in Food Science. She was the captain of her cheerleading squad her senior year and has worked with the City of Tampa supervising children at the Jackson Height recreation center. She also spends time volunteering at Murdock’s Home Daycare and Metropolitan Ministries.

Sherena sees herself as a responsible, loyal, people person who communicates well with others. In her free time, she likes to dance, cheer and spend time with her friends.

The reason Sherena chose to participate in this internship is because she wanted to gain general knowledge about Positive Youth Development, what it is and how it operates. Through this experience she hopes to learn how to implement Positive Youth Development in our schools and communities. She also wants to educate kids on how to be successful leaders in their schools.

Kristie Serrano is a senior at Freedom High School. This coming school year she will be the opinion page editor for her school newspaper because of her success as an assistant editor in the past. She is the captain for both the cross country team as well as the long distance track team. When she isn’t running and writing, she has spends countless hours volunteering her time at the YMCA, MOSI, Club Tampa Palms, Chiles Elementary and Clark Elementary.

Kristie sees herself as a hardworking, confident, self motivated people person. Her interests include running, reading, writing and volunteering. However even with a full schedule, she finds time to relax by hanging out with friends, listening to music and horseback riding.

Kristie says that she loves learning new things and the topic of positive youth development is interesting to her. She has watched her younger brother struggle with some of his teachers in school and she is hoping that what she learns in this internship will help her better understand how these teachers have affected her brother.

2006 Summer Interns

USF Collaborative for Children, Families & Communities
13301 Bruce B. Downs Blvd, MHC1129 • University of South Florida • Tampa, FL
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Copyright 2007