On Monday, July 6th, ADL New York Regional Office welcomed 12 extraordinary high school students to participate in this year’s A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE® Institute Summer Internship Program. The students come from a variety of racial, ethnic, and religious backgrounds, and were selected based on their leadership qualities and experience in ADL’s Peer Training and Peer Leadership Programs –both of which are constructed to empowers students to facilitate conversations about prejudice and discrimination in their school communities.
Over the course of the 6-week internship, the students will gain professional experience by contributing to many ADL departments including Education, Development, Marketing & Communications, Regional Operations and Accounting. In addition, the interns will attend a weekly Speakers Series on topics including civil rights, networking, finance management and the importance of philanthropy; as well as participate in anti-bias trainings as an extension of their Peer program.
“This Internship program has empowered me to share my ideas and thoughts because no one’s opinions are wrong. ADL has taught me that it is not enough only to tolerate the people around me, but my goal should be to respect and accept them.” said Valentina Florez, 2015 ADL Summer Intern from Fox Lane High School in Westchester, NY.
2015 Summer Intern, Janielle Moye of Richmond Hill High School said “ADL now means so much more to me…it has left me with courage and a feeling of empowerment that I, a 16 year old from Queens, can take action toward eliminating hate and bigotry.”
In the fall, the summer interns will represent the New York Regional Office at the ADL Grosfeld Family National Youth Leadership Mission to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC. The mission is designed to help students apply the important lessons of the Holocaust to modern-day issues of anti-Semitism, bigotry, and hate. The New York delegation will join 100 other student leaders from across the country
Founded in 1992 as a way to further the ADL Peer Training program, the A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE® Institute Summer Internship Program is made possible by the generous support of Cynthia and George Marks in collaboration with the Prejudice Reduction Task Force.