KIPP Philly Alums shinning from Coast to Coast
KIPP Philadelphia makes a commitment to all students “through college and career,” one of the ways we realize this commitment is through providing exposure to careers for our students in high school and for our alumni. This summer, the KIPP Through College and Career Team encouraged alumni to network and seek out meaningful experiences that can have a lasting impact. From the East Coast to the West Coast, our alumni are growing professionally and personally through their internships.
TAINAYA NASH
From the City of Brotherly Love to the Big Apple, Tainaya is learning a new set of life skills this summer. Tainaya is a KIPP Philadelphia Preparatory Academy Alum, who is now studying Journalism with a Marketing minor at American University. This summer she is getting firsthand experience as a Summer Associate at Hearst Magazines. During her internship, Tainaya is writing 3 to 4 articles a day for House Beautiful, a home décor magazine.
Tainaya hopes this internship helps her learn how to fit into the ever-changing world of journalism. She says, “the ultimate goal is to be able to understand my talents so well that I’ll be able to adjust and assimilate to any medium.” She says her time at KIPP taught her how to utilize her resources, especially when it comes to making connections and networking.
“KIPP offers many resources to students and alumni — I remember in 5th grade doing things like calling my math teacher because I had questions about the homework. Actions like that seem minute, but they are actually creating valuable habits that will be useful in the future.”
Anthony Odum
On the West Coast, Anthony Odum is getting a taste of the tech world as an intern at Google. Anthony is a KIPP Philadelphia Preparatory Academy Alum and is now studying computer science at Hampton University. He is on the Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) team, which is a web component framework that you can use to easily create user-first websites, stories, emails, and ads. Anthony is developing a performance visualization tool for the AMP developers to see if their changes are positive or negative.
Anthony hopes to learn as much as possible during the internship. He says he is “learning many new languages, tools and patterns to use for programming in the future as well as getting experience in a corporate environment.”
Anthony hopes to spend his spare time exploring Mountain View, California and the surrounding area. He credits the KIPP Through College and Career Office with helping him keep track of important deadlines in college and helping him stay on track.
Ziann Traore
Ziann is getting hands-on experience this summer as she works towards a career in medicine. She is interning at Nemours AI DuPont Hospital for Children in Wilmington, Delaware. She is a KIPP West Philadelphia Preparatory Charter School alum and is currently studying Biology at Howard University.
During her internship, Ziann works on translation research in a cancer therapeutics lab innovating target therapies for children who have Osteosarcoma, which is a type of bone cancer that begins in the cells that form bones. She is learning the details of Osteosarcoma and how it progresses in children, as well as the research going into finding a cure for the bone cancer. She says she hopes to learn a plethora of research skills, as well as what it takes to be a great doctor.
Ziann credits KIPP for helping her prepare for college. She says, “the coursework, level of professionalism, and go-getter mentality are all things I learned at KIPP and have applied to at college, and will continue to apply throughout my life.”
