Despite reservations, Pa Nhia decided to make the most of her opportunity.
“When I first came here, I was really indecisive about having this internship. I was pretty tired of all the mandatory training that I’d been through before, with other job experiences. But I’m so glad I did it. It was my best internship experience so far.
The most challenging part was having strict deadlines and getting feedback from others. I’m not really used to that. But the feedback helped a lot, and deadlines helped put the right amount of pressure on me, because sometimes I spend too much time on one task.”
I am…
// 17
// Friendly, kind, artistic
// A student at Patrick Henry High School
I dream of…
// Finding my dream job in business or art
Pa Nhia collaborating with her teammates on a design challenge.
She embodied the value of Achievement.
“I came here not knowing any Photoshop skills and it was really confusing at times. And my senior intern Avery was always there. He would say, ‘If you don’t know, you can ask me questions.’ I went from basically starting at the bottom, to now, where I can just experiment and see how my art comes to life. I discovered that I really love doing digital artwork.
I think what I brought to the team dynamic was commitment and hard work. Sometimes I would see other interns slacking off, so I would tell them, ‘Hey, let’s get back on track. We have to get this done and then we can focus on other stuff.’ I tried to push myself and push others too.”
Pa Nhia with her project team for the summer.
She challenged herself by embracing the unknown.
“Revival was a really interesting experience. I liked how [Executive Director] Mandy told us to pick our partner—we didn’t have to know them, we just needed to have complementary business ideas. So I chose someone who was completely different from me. It’s good because it was a way to break barriers and be comfortable making new friends and being around someone different than me.
At first we had a really open business idea. There were some red pen moments where we realized we had to narrow it down. And that was growth because it expanded my knowledge and forced me to be more specific. I learned a lot from the experience and the professionals we met.
Our business idea was an app called Strive for Success. We started off with two very different ideas: he wanted to create a checklist and I wanted to create an online organization. We clashed and didn’t know where to go from there. But whenever we had that moment when we didn’t know what to do, my business partner asked for help. That’s something I was really grateful for.”
See the difference that Rêve Academy makes.
Pa Nhia 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
// Illustrator
// Photoshop
// Project management
// Agile development
Rêve Academy’s student interns of summer 2018.
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!