On Monday, July 7th, ADL welcomed 15 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 Trainer and Peer Leadership Programs, an initiative that empowers students to facilitate conversations about hatred, prejudice and discrimination in their school communities.

Over the course of the 6-week internship, the students will further their knowledge on anti-bias education and benefit from professional experience by contributing to many ADL departments including Education, Development, Marketing & Communications, Regional Operations and Human Resources. Additionally, the interns attend weekly Leadership Sessions on topics including college preparation, networking, leadership skills, and wealth management.

“This internship is a great opportunity for us to get a taste of what it’s like to work in an office…we are learning new things every day,” said Kaveena Billar, 2014 ADL Summer Intern from ­Richmond Hill High School in Queens, NY.

In the fall, the summer interns will represent the New York Regional Office at the ADL Grosfeld Family National Youth Leadership Mission in Washington, DC. The New York delegation will join other student leaders from across the country to explore issues of bias and discrimination and visit the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum to learn about how to apply lessons of the Holocaust to today’s contemporary issues of prejudice and hate.

Founded in 1992 as a way to further the ADL Peer Training program, the New York Regional Office Summer Internship Program is made possible by the generous support of Cynthia and George Marks in collaboration with the Prejudice Reduction Task Force.