Internships can be dynamic ways to try on careers, and sometimes the most unexpected opportunities will open your eyes to a whole new outlet for your skills and interests. Antione Gray is a senior in the University of Pennsylvania’s College of Arts and Sciences. While he never considered himself entrepreneurially inclined, this summer he found himself accepting an internship position at Paladin, a social justice startup in New York City. Gray sat down with KWHS interviewer Julia Drake, a junior at Hopewell Valley Central High School, to discuss his introduction to the social-justice landscape and why internships are such a powerful way to “build an authentic network.”

https://youtu.be/80MeSaEcn74

Knowledge@Wharton High School: Queens, New York, native Antione Gray is a rising senior at U of Penn’s College of Arts and Sciences, studying political science and sociology. Antoine has had various past internships to explore his many passions. He knew he wanted his 2016 summer internship to prepare him for a career in real estate, government and nonprofit. So, he accepted a position with Paladin, a social justice startup in New York City. While the new social enterprise wasn't his first choice, it's been a great learning experience for him and he's going to tell us more about his work with Paladin today. Hi Antione, thanks for joining us.

Antione Gray: Thanks for having me.

KWHS: Paladin is a social justice startup. When was it founded? By whom? And what exactly does the company do?

Gray: The founder of Paladin, Felicity Conrad, had worked at the United Nations (UN) both during and after law school. And after her tenure at the UN, she became a human rights attorney at a leading international law firm, where she worked on human rights cases in East Africa, Haiti, China and France. And in doing that work, she had a firsthand view of the amount of injustice that was going on in the world. She really began to think about the impact that she and her fellow lawyers could have on the world if they each performed the American Bar Association's recommended 50 hours of pro bono work [representing clients for free] per year. Last year, in July 2015, she left her legal career to work on Paladin full-time.

Along the way, she met her co-founder Kristen Sonday, who was also very passionate about social justice and brought her experiences from working at the Department of Justice and a Y Combinator startup [a program for developing top entrepreneurs] to help Felicity bring her idea to life. So in a nutshell, Paladin is looking to streamline corporate social responsibility by building a global pro bono marketplace that connects professionals, starting with attorneys, with pro bono opportunities and tracks the impact that they have in their communities.

KWHS: How did you end up at Paladin? Did you consider other internships? And what was your process for finding this one?

Gray: Last semester, I was in Washington, D.C. with the Penn in Washington Semester Program [students spend their fall or spring semester taking classes and interning in Washington, D.C.]. In that program, I was interning full-time, as well as taking classes at night, so I was really busy. I was just caught up in the shuffle, getting my homework done, getting my work assignments done, stuff like that. March crept up on me quickly and I had to scramble to find something to do for the summer. I only had about two months left. So I started off applying to organizations that friends and former co-workers from other internships had recommended to me.

But the bulk of my search came through Penn Link, which is Penn's online job database. I set up filters by location and by industry, seeing what was close to home, so I wouldn't have to pay for housing, but also, something that I was really interested in and something that would build my skills. I knew I wanted to do something that would help develop my business skills. As a political science major,

As a new college year gets underway, many students are beginning to settle comfortably into campus and their lives after high school. And still others are already starting to doubt their decisions. Before long, that nagging voice questioning if this is the right college choice for them will intensify to: […]

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As a new college year gets underway, many students are beginning to settle comfortably into campus and their lives after high school. And still others are already starting to doubt their decisions. Before long, that nagging voice questioning if this is the right college choice for them will intensify to: “Should I consider transferring to a new school?”

Anthony David Williams knows that struggle all too well. He wrestled with the transfer decision early in his freshman year at Gettysburg College in Gettysburg, Pa., and is now starting his sophomore year at the University of Pennsylvania. He sat down with KWHS interviewer Julia Drake to discuss the considerations he made before setting his transfer papers into motion.

https://youtu.be/ZajNJ1OO7cM

Knowledge@Wharton High School: Anthony David Williams graduated from Bodine High School for International Affairs in Philadelphia in the spring of 2015. And soon after, [he] headed to the campus of Gettysburg College in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, to begin his freshmen year. But things didn't go as planned. Anthony decided to transfer and this fall will be starting his sophomore year at the University of Pennsylvania. Anthony is talking with us today about what went into his decision to transfer after his freshman year.

Hi, Anthony, thanks for joining us. Why did you originally decide to go to Gettysburg?

Anthony David Williams: The best answer I can give you is I don't know. And to be honest, if that's an answer that any student is going to have when they're asked why they are going to a certain college or university, then it's probably not the best fit for them. I had many people in my year -- counselors and an academic afterschool program, where people [were] giving [me] their best advice. And sometimes, the best advice is the best advice, as long as it's comfortable for you. And for me, it was not. I went to Gettysburg College mainly because I felt that I would be financially safe. The college gave me a full scholarship, which was an amazing feat for me.

Academically, it was right in my ballpark. I absolutely loved my professors. I had a great time talking to them and getting to know them. It was a very intimate setting. Although, socially, I didn't quite fit in as well. This was something that I [didn’t] expect. You could see online the diversity rates -- however, not having visited the school, which was another mistake, I wasn't quite sure what I was in for.

KWHS: At what point in your freshman year did you realize that you wanted to transfer to U of Penn? And what were some of the reasons behind your decision to transfer?

Williams: There were actually many stops along the way where I realized this. But most notably was during freshman orientation. So many students are so happy and they're just marveling at the school, and they are so excited that they have arrived at this destination. I couldn't say that I shared in that. I really didn't understand why I was there. I didn't understand all the excitement. It was as if they were sharing some sort of a private joke. I tried to get to know people and understand their motivations for coming to the college and I honestly felt embarrassed that I couldn't come up with some things as quickly as they could or even seem half as passionate as they could.

That was a tip off that I probably wasn't at the right destination. But I tried to get more involved. I ran for student government and I became president of my class to try to get to know all the different students and try to interact with them as much as I could. I also joined the student newspaper and I wrote for The Odyssey at Gettysburg, which is analogous to a student newspaper, but a little smaller. I tried to see the demographic and the students and the social life. I also went out, tried the nightlife, all the things that freshmen students are supposed to do. However, I arrived more and more so at the exact same place, where I was at in the beginning,

During the last week of July, 2016, some 35 high school students from Philadelphia and the surrounding areas traveled to Wharton’s Huntsman Hall for the 2016 Summer Global Leadership Seminar organized by the World Affairs Council (WAC) of Philadelphia, in partnership with Knowledge@Wharton High School (KWHS). Right before the kick-off […]

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During the last week of July, 2016, some 35 high school students from Philadelphia and the surrounding areas traveled to Wharton’s Huntsman Hall for the 2016 Summer Global Leadership Seminar organized by the World Affairs Council (WAC) of Philadelphia, in partnership with Knowledge@Wharton High School (KWHS).

Right before the kick-off of the week-long program, KWHS interviewer Julia Drake, a junior at Hopewell Valley Central High School in New Jersey, sat down with Ned Hawkins, director of student programs at WAC, to discuss this year’s seminar topic: The migration crisis and the future for the European Union. Here, Hawkins discusses all aspects of the mass movement of millions of people into Europe, also considered the worst humanitarian crisis that Europe has faced since the end of World War II.

https://youtu.be/ORf4yazNPC0

Knowledge@Wharton High School: Ned Hawkins is the director of student programs at the World Affairs Council of Philadelphia. The topic of the council’s 2016 Summer Global Leadership Seminar for high school students is “The Migration Crisis and the Future for the European Union.” In the weeks leading up to the seminar, Ned has studied all aspects of the crisis. Today, he is going to help us understand it better. Hi, Ned, thanks for joining us.

I thought a good place to start would be -- what exactly is the migration crisis?

Ned Hawkins: What we are talking about is the mass movement of people into Europe. And this situation is on such a scale [that it involves more than] a million migrants who have flowed into Europe. It’s created a situation that is the worst humanitarian crisis Europe has faced since the end of World War II. What the situation has entailed is the movement of migrants who are either fleeing persecution, war or violence, or migrants who have chosen to go to Europe for economic reasons. And this has challenged European governments and has also challenged a lot of the pan-European laws and systems in place to handle refugees.

KWHS: What are some of the potential challenges, risks and rewards for migrants making the journey to Europe?

Hawkins: The journey itself is tremendously risky. When you hear the stories from the migrants themselves, this is a traumatic experience for everyone. The journey is on foot. You're involved with transportation that is on a need-basis. You might be on a train, you might be on foot for thousands of miles -- it's unpredictable. You are also dealing with crowded and overcrowded refugee camps. Criminal gangs have taken advantage of the refugees. Being robbed is definitely a big risk.

Also, the refugees or the migrants are actually very vulnerable. They have a goal in mind. And they're being taken advantage of a lot of times by human smugglers and human traffickers. When you get to Europe itself, the challenges aren't over. [You face] challenges in regards to integrating into society. If you do make it to Sweden or Germany, [you have to find work] and adjust to a whole new culture and a whole new setting. A whole new environment is a big challenge. Certainly, the reward would be [that] if you are fleeing violence or war, you are [moving to a] safe, stable place [like] the European member states. If you're an economic migrant, the European member states are providing a higher standard of living. That is certainly a reward for the journey.

KWHS: Do you have an example of a real migrant story to help illustrate the experience?

Hawkins: I do. There are so many horrible stories, and rightly so. As I mentioned, this is a journey that's full of a tremendous amount of risks and is traumatic for many. A focus in a different direction is the story of Mahmoud Bitar, a Syrian from [the city of] Aleppo who made the journey to Sweden (use the sidebar to navigate to Related Links for more information on Mahmoud). It took him more than three years just to get into Greece, which would be the entry point into the European Union.

Welcome to the PwC-KWHS Podcast Series for High School Educators on Business & Financial Responsibility. I’m Diana Drake, managing editor of Knowledge@Wharton High School, and today we are discussing the intersection of technology and finance. Technology is dramatically changing the way consumers handle personal financial transactions, everything from online banking and virtual […]

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Welcome to the PwC-KWHS Podcast Series for High School Educators on Business & Financial Responsibility.

I’m Diana Drake, managing editor of Knowledge@Wharton High School, and today we are discussing the intersection of technology and finance. Technology is dramatically changing the way consumers handle personal financial transactions, everything from online banking and virtual wallets to bar code-based mobile payments and cryptocurrencies. We are here to explore what that changing landscape looks like, and what the technological shift means for the future of money management and financial capability. Also, how can educators prepare students to use these high-tech tools to manage their finances responsibly and successfully?

This is part four of our four-part technology and finance discussion with Wharton International Management professor Mauro Guillen and PwC Partner Elizabeth Diep. Here, we help high school educators prepare their students to use technology to manage their money.

Below is an edited transcript of the conversation.

Knowledge@Wharton High School: Educators, of course, are very serious and also interested in finding out how they can prepare students to use technology to manage their money. I'm hoping that we can explore for a moment ways that the classroom learning experience needs to adapt to this changing landscape of technology and personal finance.

Technology is all about making life easier and faster but that may not necessarily be a good thing when it comes to teaching comprehensive money management. For instance, technology can't compensate for a poorly developed budget or cash management plan. Patricia Page from East Greenwich High School in Rhode Island asks, how as educators, do we ensure that the conceptual time-intensive framework needed to effectively use high-tech tools doesn't get overlooked in the scan, select and done mentality?

Elizabeth Diep: I like the scan, select and done mentality. That's very much how we function these days. But I'll say that today's high school students have grown up in a world surrounded by technology. They're probably more comfortable [with it] than they are walking into a library asking for a hard copy of a book. I don't think they would know how to do that because they've accessed everything either on their smart phones or through their computers, etc.

When it comes to financial literacy and helping young adults understand the basics behind the technology, the challenge is, how do we make a connection between the lessons that the students learn in front of the screen and the real-world spending that they're facing every day? The good news is that there are many programs being built today that integrate both worlds.

I'll give you an example. There is a new app that's called JA Build Your Future. It's an app that helps teens, their parents and teachers break down the costs of achieving career goals into really easy-to-understand numbers. So, if you want to go to college, it will look at how many years you're away from going to school, what a saving plan could be, what loans you would take. It develops a budget for you in a really easy way, [with a] great interface. And that's just one of many other apps out there [that] teach classic lessons about spending, saving, earning and how [to] share that money with a community.

I'll put in a shameless plug for a great program that we have developed at PwC -- it's called “Earn Your Future.” This is a financial literacy program focused on teaching students how to become more financially literate. We've developed an entire financial literacy curriculum. And as part of PwC's “Earn Your Future” commitment, which is a multi-year, $190-million investment in U.S. education and financial literacy, PwC has created our own financial literacy modules. It's really to provide it for students and for educators free of charge and focus just on this -- the simple concepts around saving and investing,

As students around the world graduate from high school, the future can seem daunting. Many are experiencing their first true inflection point, a life event that results in significant change and progress. What better time to taste a purpose-sustaining smoothie? Mukul Pandya, managing director of Knowledge@Wharton, Wharton’s online journal of […]

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As students around the world graduate from high school, the future can seem daunting. Many are experiencing their first true inflection point, a life event that results in significant change and progress. What better time to taste a purpose-sustaining smoothie? Mukul Pandya, managing director of Knowledge@Wharton, Wharton’s online journal of business and analysis, recently sat down with Sesha Dhanyamraju, CEO of Digital Risk in Florida, to discuss the IT executive’s smoothie recipe that helps high school students remember to follow their passions and to set short-term and long-term goals on their journey to success, fulfillment -- and even Mars.

An edited transcript of the conversation appears below.

https://youtu.be/JqiEWb6LSvY

Knowledge@Wharton High School: Our guest today is Sesha Dhanyamraju, who is the CEO of Digital Risk in Florida, which is an Mphasis company. Sesha is also the chief strategy officer for Mphasis, which is a global IT services company. Sesha, welcome to Knowledge@Wharton, and thank you for speaking with us for the Knowledge@Wharton High school site.

Sesha Dhanyamraju: Thank you so much, Mukul. I'm very happy to be here.

KWHS: Some time ago, we had a conversation about the fact that when many students graduate from high school these days, one of the options that some of them like to think about is a career in IT services. How do you see the potential for students to join IT services as a career path? I think you recently had some interesting experiences about that. Could you tell us about it?

Dhanyamraju: First of all, when you look at the high school generation today, IT comes naturally to them. Unlike the prior generations where IT was a gained skill, the high school students today have an advantage because they are born with IT. So, skills around IT -- using IT, leveraging IT -- come naturally to them. This puts them in a spot of advantage, which they can leverage. They can harness this skill to utilize IT knowledge and do many things with it.

Recently, I had an opportunity to address a group of freshmen at a high school, which was focused around IT. I felt going in that all the students would be very happy to be in that environment. On the contrary, when I went there, I was told that a good majority of the students actually feel as if they are fish out of water.

KWHS: Why would they feel so negatively about being in a school that focuses on IT?

Dhanyamraju: I think the main reason for their discontent was not whether the school was focused on IT or not. [It was] the fact that the choice about joining the school was made by somebody else other than them. High school students want to be in total control of the choices that they make, and if their parents or caregivers decided this option for them, then it became a situation where they didn't really want to be associated with that choice. So, rather than embrace their access to so many new technologies [and] courses that they could leverage, they felt, “I'm not at the right place. This is not the desired school for me -- not a set of courses that help me in where I want to head."

KWHS: You came up with a model that would allow them to reframe their thinking about how to become successful in thinking about a career in information technology. Can you tell us a little bit about your model, and does it have anything to do with smoothies?

Dhanyamraju: When I was thinking about the topics that would be of interest to high school students, I wanted to give them some framework; guidelines that they could use in a way that relates to their age. So, I came up with this fragment, if you will. One high school student basically remarked that it is both quirky and creative. And that is exactly what makes it relevant for high school students. The concept was around how do you maximize your true potential? How do you unleash your true potential? And the success mantra is "Apple Peach Greenleaf Smoothie Is Nice.”

Benjamin Lewis once ignited his competitive spirit on the open water as captain of the 2004 Olympic K4 team, the four-person men's sprint kayak. He also trained competitively for cross-country skiing. These days, he is channeling that passion into quite different, yet vital areas: animals and research. As founder of […]

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