STUDENTS GAIN HANDS-ON TRAINING DURING INTERNSHIP

Students from After School Matters participated in an internship at Gateley Park and received valuable mentorship from Carey Pinkowski, executive director of the Bank of America Chicago Marathon. Photo provided by Julie Thorson
Students from After School Matters participated in an internship at Gateley Park and received valuable mentorship from Carey Pinkowski, executive director of the Bank of America Chicago Marathon. Photo provided by Julie Thorson

 Students gain hands-on training during internship

BY TIA CAROL JONES

After School Matters partnered with Bank of America for its paid summer internship program. Not only did four students received on the job training at Gateley Park, but they were mentored by Executive Director of the Bank of America Chicago Marathon Carey Pinkowski.

After School Matters offers apprenticeships, assistantships and internships for teens ages 14 and older, during the school year and summer. After School Matters’ internships provide a next step experience for the teens who participate in the program. Bank of America sponsors the internships and connects with the teens in the After School Matters program. The four interns at Gateley Park were supported by

Bank of America. Those students gained workplace experience, worked with younger children, and learned about track, the business of track and event management.

Bank of America worked with sports partnerships, NFL, MLB and Chicago Marathon, to do a targeted internship program. Students from communities of color could do an internship at a non-profit and learn a meaningful, sports-focused internship. Bank of America has partnered with After School Matters for many years.

With the sports program, students who participate don’t just want to play sports, they also are also interested in professions that are connected to sports.

Melissa Mister, the chief programs officer of After School Matters, said Pinkowski was interested in connecting directly with the
interns at Gateley Park. He met with them, talked about his job with the Bank of America Chicago Marathon.

“It was a good opportunity for exposure. The kids are doing work day-to-day, at the Gateley Park, but they’re also getting exposed to careers. He was really really interested in personally connecting with the teens,” Mister said.

The students with the internship learned the inner workings of the track, as well as track safety, which is different now because
of COVID-19. Students also learned about leadership and walked away with 21st Century learning skills – how to plan, how to communicate, how to collaborate, how to set goals and work towards those goals.

“They talked about how they can apply what they learned in the internship to their future, and I would argue their future and now. These are all skills, being able to present to others, and work as a team, that’s stuff you use everyday in high school, everyday in life and you absolutely will use in your careers in the future,” Mister said.

After School Matters also had a team that participated in the Bank of America Chicago Marathon this year. There were 22 community members that ran for After School Matters and they raised more than
$28,000 this year. It was the highest number of participants After School Matters had and they wants to continue the partnership
with Bank of America and want more participants for their team for next year.

Cara Pan, the Bank of America Market Executive, said the mentorship piece with Pinkowski was critical to the internship.
Pan described it as the “cherry on top.” Students learned how to be successful in a career, how to reset motivation in a career,
how to drive success in a career, and not just the job skills in a specific partnership.

“This is one example of how a real partnership can be incredibly impactful for the youth in Chicago. To have a company like
Bank of America and a non-profit like After School Matters, working together to deliver these types of programs, along with the
executive director of an event like Chicago Marathon, all of us working together impacting the lives of the youth here in Chicago, this is really what a true partnership
looks like,” Pan said.

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