David T. is another intern from One Summer Chicago working at Children’s Home & Aid on the communications team with me. We’ve been working together for the past six weeks and we sat down together to talk about our experiences growing up and working this summer.
David was born and raised in Chicago. For David, it was a struggle growing up in Chicago. Because of all the violence in the city, he never knew what the day would look like, what he would witness or what he would see on the news. He believes teenagers nowadays should feel blessed if they reach the age of 18 without losing their life to gun violence. “In Chicago people are killing innocent people with no remorse and it’s breaking hearts everywhere,” David explains.
David’s favorite subject in school last year was English. Every time his teacher gave him an essay to write, he always got a good grade on the work because he puts his full effort into it. I asked David what his dream college is and he said, “Florida State would be my dream college either to play football or just to experience the Florida college lifestyle.” Sports has always been a big part of David’s childhood and it made him into the person he is today.
The reason David chose to join the One Summer Chicago job program is because he felt like it was time for him to mature and get himself a job for the summer until he starts school back. One Summer Chicago was the perfect opportunity for him to get his first job. During the school year, David is involved in many after-school activities and he doesn’t have time for a job. But with summer, David wanted to take advantage of the opportunity and get some work training so he can be ready for his next part-time job.
I also asked David what he enjoys about working at Children’s Home & Aid. He replied, “They placed me downtown which was a dream to me as a young kid and now that I have the opportunity to do it, I enjoy it very much. They also gave me my own desk and computer to work on so it makes me actually feel like I work with the company and I’m not just an intern.” David’s dream job is to be a movie director and create his own movies and add his own twist and stories to them.
For David working at Children’s Home & Aid made him feel like the young adult he is. Every morning when he walks into the office, he gets greeted by his coworkers nicely, can go make his own coffee and start on his work that he left off on the day before. He thanks his aunt for helping him get the job he has now working for One Summer Chicago.
In his free time when he’s not at school or work, David’s at football practice, at home sleeping or playing 2k. David wishes to leave an impact in Children’s Home & Aid. He hopes he can inspire at-risk youth to work hard.
David M. is a communications intern at Children’s Home & Aid. David is going to be a junior this fall at Bowen High School. He enjoys playing football in his free time and spending time with his family. This is his second year working with One Summer Chicago.
David T. and David M. are working together on a series of stories about the participants in One Summer Chicago. This is the third in a seven-part series.