NEW ROCHELLE, NY — To provide students with greater opportunities to visit and explore a variety of nearby work environments, My Brother’s Keeper New Rochelle launched “Take a Student Ambassador to Work Day” on April 27th to coincide with the national “Take Your Son/Daughter to Work” campaign.
31 students — including a mix of MBK male Student Ambassadors and female students from New Rochelle High School’s Girls Mentoring Club — participated in one-day externships at corporations and organizations in Manhattan, New Rochelle and throughout Westchester County.
“I learned a lot about the PR business and the entertainment industry in general,” says New Rochelle High School student Basil Harding, who shadowed PR expert Lizzie Grubman in New York City. “I’m really grateful for the opportunity that My Brother’s Keeper afforded me.”
Student Francisco Maldonado said he was looking forward to learning about leadership from the “influential” Alisa Kesten, Executive Director of Volunteer New York!, who was named a “Best Boss” by 914Inc Magazine. “I’m hoping to get some tips on being a leader and learn how to carry myself in a way that Alisa Kesten does.”
“We are thrilled that our students had the opportunity to visit such diverse workplaces and learn about how various companies and industries work,” says Camille Edwards Thomas, House II Principal at New Rochelle High School and co-chair of MBKNewRo’s Student Resources Committee. “We hope they use these experiences to think about their own career goals.”
“We are delighted to receive such positive feedback from our host employers about how engaging and polite our students were during their externships,” says Colleen Gardephe, Managing Director of MBKNewRo and co-chair of the initiative’s Student Resources Committee. “The employers went out of their way to provide informational sessions for our students. We are also so grateful to the The Guidance Center of Westchester for providing vans and drivers to get our students to the various work sites,” adds Gardephe.
New York City Employers participating in this First Annual Take a Student Ambassador to Work Day included: John Gallin & Son, Credit Suisse, the law firm of Patterson, Belknap Webb & Tyler, publicist Lizzie Grubman, and the education non-profit Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE). In New Rochelle, host employers included Mayor Noam Bramson, Rice and Rice law firm, Judge Gail Rice, Judge Susan Kettner, Judge Anthony Carbone and the Creative Learning Center. Host employers in Westchester include The Journal News, Volunteer New York! and Prime Performance & Development.
On April 29th, 2015, New Rochelle became the first community in Westchester County to accept President Obama’s My Brother’s Keeper Challenge. Five additional communities in Westchester and another 250 cities and towns across the country have joined the My Brother’s Keeper initiative, which is designed to help all students flourish, particularly boys and young men of color.
My Brother’s Keeper New Rochelle (MBKNewRo) is a unique partnership between the City of New Rochelle and the School District and is supported by more than 120 community partners and 100 volunteers. MBKNewRo has launched or implemented more than two dozen events, programs and activities to help students make progress in all six of the Milestones outlined in this cradle-to-career initiative.