Max Clermont, one of our amazing Pencils of Promise interns for the summer, shares his thoughts and feelings about his first day interning with PoP.

You are always on edge on the first day of any new experience. You are worried about the way you are dressed, concerned about your new co-workers and hoping that they’ll have a favorable opinion of you and vice-versa, and you are thinking about the new space and environment and hoping that it is something that aligns with what is necessary for you to be productive.

With all that in mind, I can honestly say that PoP has so far proven to be a great fit. The atmosphere is young, engaging, and the passion and dedication of everyone involved with PoP is inspiring. You can tell, just from the office space (below), that the atmosphere is not one of abundance or luxury, but one grounded in grassroots and the bottom-up approach to social change. The main focus is clearly on the communities we work with, the schools we build, and in-country coordinators we support. This is an extremely powerful model – the idea that the needs of those we work with are more important than our own and more importantly, that our goals are shared, linked with a common thread of empowerment and solidarity.

After my on-boarding orientation with Intern director, Jocelyn Kmet, I was already well on my way to supporting the work of the PoP team. In just my first day in the office, I have already started working on developing PoP’s new SHINE program, thinking about ways to support PoP’s social media initiatives, and researching other organizations that have been successful in activating youth for social good and seeing how they fit in with the PoP model. So I’ve hit the ground running on what is sure to be a productive summer.  What’s more exciting is that I can already see that my work here is having an impact on PoP – its not just busy work, its projects and initiatives that PoP will be utilizing and implementing at all levels of the organization. I am looking forward to learning more about social change and thinking about ways to ensure that education remains a fundamental human right. As Dr. King said, “An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.” It is this same spirit that drives me to take what I learn from and contribute to PoP and use it as a guide for me to continue doing good and immersing myself in opportunities like this that benefit all of humanity.

Follow Max’s experience interning for Pencils of Promise this summer via Twitter @maxclermont.