with a younger demographic. Ultimately, “Interns 4-Good enables teens to help an organization in need,” explains Ellie.
While designing a Culminating Leadership Project, Alzar School students are asked to center their project idea around a need or cause they are particularly passionate about. “My inspiration for Interns 4-Good came from my first hand experience,” Ellie recounts. As the editor of her high school yearbook, she has strong graphic design skills and wanted to build upon them. The summer before 10th grade, she reached out to dozens of local businesses for an internship, only to be told that she was too young or that she’d be required to work on-site. Many of her classmates had similar experiences, leaving them frustrated and their talents untapped. “I knew there had to be a better way!” Not until her semester at Alzar School did Ellie pinpoint the need for a platform to connect teens with nonprofit internships and dive into implementing this vision. “The CLP class provided me with the structure and mentorship that I needed.” Thus, Interns 4-Good was born.
Today, Ellie and her Interns 4-Good team have helped connect over 5,000 talented highschool volunteers from all across the country. Teen volunteers offer talents in programming, website design, writing, photo editing, enhancing social media and more. Interns 4-Good helps support a wide range of nonprofits serving causes such as underprivileged youth, environmental conservation and animal rights. “We have about 20 core partner organizations,” Ellie describes. Recent organization partnerships with Efforts in Youth Development of Bangladesh, Interverse Educational Group, ENGin, and others have enabled Interns 4-Good to expand, coupling over 400 new teen interns with volunteer opportunities. Ellie points out a project that has proved especially meaningful with She’s My Daughter, an organization dedicated to winning the battle against sex trafficking. “Our interns are using their graphic design, marketing, and video editing skills to grow the organization’s apparel branch called #weebeefree which works to promote fashion as a megaphone for muted voices.” Interns 4-Good volunteers are also using their artistic talents to engage in social activism, help raise awareness for the Black Lives Matter movement and stand in opposition to police brutality and racial injustice.
"Interns 4-Good enables teens to help
an organization in need."