Kashawnna was ready to dive into the business world.
“I first found out about this internship when my language arts teacher came up to me and handed me a flyer for Rêve Academy. I saw the word business on it and that grabbed my attention, since I want to be a small business owner someday.
My goal is to graduate early from high school. Then I want to get my master’s degree in business and go to culinary school for four years. After that, my dream is to open a bunch of businesses and maybe even a restaurant.”
I am…
// 14
// Smart, enterprising, a team player
// A student at Southwest High School
I dream of…
// Becoming a serial entrepreneur
Presenting research to the rest of the interns; posing with her team at Revival.
She embodied the value of Achievement.
“I found out that I like designing in Indesign and Illustrator. Because I have this thing…if I see something and it’s not right, I just want to fix it, make it a little better. Even if it’s a rough draft or something, I still want to make it better.
I think I’ve grown the most with talking with people. I’m not used to talking with people I don’t know; I’m more closed off with them. But being here with the meetings, and learning about active listening, and the presentations—it all helped me open up. I learned how to laugh but also get work done.”
Kashawnna presents during a client meeting with Community Blueprint.
She was energized by creating new ideas.
“For Revival, my teammate Anthony and I came up with a business idea called Convertial. It’s a cultural fair and it’s different from other fairs because you get to participate in the activities instead of just watching. So in everything from singing to art to dancing and food, you get to be involved and learn more about the culture that’s being spotlighted.
During the event, I was a little nervous. And when it got close to presentation time, I was getting so frustrated ‘cause I tried to write the pitch down and it just wouldn’t come. I was up there about to speak and my heart was beating so fast. But that’s when I got the hang of it.
If I had a classmate who was interested in coming to Rêve Academy, I would tell them to just do it. It’s important to learn about computers and design and business. And remember: what the client wants, the client gets! That’s one of the biggest lessons I learned.”
See the difference that Rêve Academy makes.
Kashawnna gained both technical and professional skills in her internship—and she didn’t have to pay a cent. In fact, we paid her a fair wage for her work each week, while she learned:
Professional skills
// Empathy
// Authenticity
// Collaboration
// Achievement
// Ingenuity
// Agility
Technical skills
// Photoshop
// Illustrator
// InDesign
// Project management
// Agile development
Rêve Academy’s student interns of summer 2017.
Help students along their path.
If you have a heart for students, we have a place for you.
Become a digital volunteer and help our interns as they work on real-world projects. Or show our kids what an ordinary day looks like for a working professional. There are lots of ways to get involved, so don’t be shy—we can’t wait to meet you!