High School Interns
Youth Impact in Vermont, an I-58 Navs ministry serving those who are under-resourced, launched an internship program last summer, with four local high schoolers stepping up for the eight-week program. One of them described the internship this way: “High schoolers learning about Jesus, serving, and making things better, helping kids in our neighborhood learn about Jesus.”
Nav staffer Stephanie Hobold, who worked closely with the interns, says, “This internship was easily the highlight of my year.”
The interns spent 10 hours a week in training—studying the Bible, learning practical life skills, discussing various social justice issues, and spending time in one-to-one discipleship. They also planned the annual kids camp, a week-long, evening program for 20-25 elementary-aged youth from the diverse neighborhood.
“When signing kids up for camp, one of the interns wanted to make sure we invited a refugee family of seven kids who had arrived to Vermont just a couple weeks ago,” Stephanie says. “We were told the family spoke French, Kirundi, and Swahili. We had a French speaker and Kirundi speaker on our team, so we thought we were all set. However, when we arrived at their home to invite them, we realized the younger children only spoke Swahili. But they did end up coming to camp.”
In order to serve this family, one of the interns volunteered to devote himself to these seven children and translate from English to Kirundi, and then the oldest son in the family translated from Kirundi into Swahili.
“It was a wondrous sight to see God shine through that intern,” Stephanie says.
“One night while I was driving campers home, Ebony, a second grader, blurted out, ‘This is the best camp ever!’ Now, I don’t how many camps Ebony has been to, but it was a confidence booster and affirmation for the four interns,” Stephanie says. “Each of them led a small group of children, planned and directed a part of the evening; they were amazing!”
*Name changed in this story.
To read more about Youth Impact, head to youthimpactvt.wordpress.com
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