Internships are how our students GROW EQA Internships Learn more about the power and importance of Internships at EQA Show Transcript so each of our young people come to us for different reasons we serve about 500 young people a year each of them is talented and full of promise and they come with lots of barriers and lots of struggles about 90% of our students are over age for their grade the vast majority of them have dropped out at some point during middle or high school um about a third of them have been expelled from school about a quarter of them are struggling with homelessness and then about half of our young people have severe trauma and stress in their lives and they are carrying all of that while also working really hard to achieve not just their diploma but to create a better life for themselves and their families how did eqa about 18 years ago and our model is really based on the idea that if you haven't been successful a Traditional School there's lots of reasons for that and it doesn't mean that you're unable to be successful and so we want to build a space that fits what you need me to where you are and helps you become the person that you want to become and what we try to do when they arrive here is really try to get to know them and uh find out what their assets are build those relationships try to earn their trust through being present for them every day and then put opportunities in front of them I'm part of a company rgc Ryan good a general contractors before the next interested I do not know these opportunities existed when I got to the net and saw those opportunities my life changed is a major ways I talk with my real world learning coach Miss Valor and she was able to connect me with different apprenticeships and programs to Chase my dreams and the construction industry kind of where I am now and where today then that definitely helped me find my wife growing up in those harsh and Rural environments and wanted to make it out and definitely come back at 1 day and be able to make a change the change I want to make is picks up a lot of the evented areas but most importantly keep the youth definitely out of trouble and on the right paths my biggest dream is to start my own construction company 1 day I will lie had like a trouble pass getting into a lot of things crime violence really like in the hood coming at the neck being in these internships like it's showing me like they ain't all it is it's more opportunities professionally where you can level up in life find like what I like to do like within myself like with art I do music music I won't like put my voice into like you know making art and spraying my voice move and I ain't got to ask for nothing but I still get it no that's why me more I love I love you we had a student once who who came to the Central City Campus and there was a day that he had 1 last standardized tests to I called him to let him know that he had passed he then sent me a message and said thank you for not giving up on me and I've carried that because I think it may be for him and for many of our students the net may be the first time in their lives where people didn't give up on them um and so that was really formative for him and for me to know that um what I see is just my work has that type of an impact often these young people when they got in Conflict at former schools they often tell us man I would have got suspended for this I would have got expelled for this I really like how patient y'all so I think it it really really gives them an opportunity to know that it is okay to make mistakes but also I'm going to be held accountable for those mistakes but I can correct them and it gives them opportunity to know that they care for and being cared for gives them the be a little bit more excited about coming to school being excited about their education being excited about their future knowing that they're not in this fight alone especially when outside sometimes makes them feel like they are alone