Students devote summer to helping those in need

College students from all over the world brought a wave of new energy and much-needed help to nonprofit organizations across the Greater Houston area this summer.

Thirty nonprofits dedicated to serving those in need and having a positive local impact each got an extra pair of helping hands this summer thanks to the ExxonMobil Community Summer Jobs Program (CSJP), which pairs rising college sophomores, juniors and seniors with nonprofits for paid internships.

Over eight weeks this summer, students gained hands-on experience and a better understanding of the inner-workings of nonprofit organizations, and they developed skills that can boost their job prospects after college. At the same time, nonprofits received needed and deserved assistance during the busy summer months, and our communities benefited from the work students did to support these organizations.

For example, Krystal Rios – a management major at the University of Houston – devoted her summer to the Houston Food Bank, where she interviewed food bank clients and helped write their stories to be shared in an effort to remove the stigma of needing food assistance.

And Redeate Seife – a student at The University of Texas at Dallas majoring in speech-language pathology and audiology –made a real difference with The Center for Hearing and Speech this summer. As part of her internship, she organized a summer camp for children with hearing loss.