Hey everyone! My name is EJ Garcia, a 19-year-old sophomore college student at Southern Adventist University.  

I am pursuing a degree in marketing so having a communications and media internship at The Hub, Building Healthy Communities is the perfect opportunity for me to not only gain valuable skills in a field I am interested in but also an opportunity to help the community which I grew up in, Sacramento. When I’m not in class, I enjoy playing piano and hiking to take photographs of nature. Overall, I am excited to see how I can grow through this internship and I am ready for what the future has in store.

Hi everyone! My name is June Lee, a 16 year old junior high school student at The Met Sacramento High School. My school is a small charter school that has internships as a part of their curriculum, which is how I am currently working at The Hub, Building Healthy Communities (BHC). The Met Sacramento is a school that prioritizes work-ethic over academia; enabling a lot of students like myself to go out into the real world and get job experience in their line of interest. Teachers and peers push you to go beyond your limits to succeed in a working environment and we present ourselves and what we did through Exhibitions. 

I don’t necessarily have a lot of things that I enjoy, since I mostly focus on school. But being with friends and doing art is my thing. At the moment, painting is a medium I want to learn and improve in because I feel like that speaks to me more. In a way, painting is something that gets me out of my zone of constant working. 

A bit of backstory as to why I’m working with The Hub is my passion in helping others. Originally, I had no idea what I wanted to do and was stuck on wanting careers that would financially stabilize me instead of fulfilling my soul. When I found out that I want to become a social worker or be a part of social services, I immediately found The Hub. I remembered being super nervous because I wasn’t sure if this was the right place for me. Kid you not, the first day I worked there everything really clicked for me, and I’m glad to be a part of this. This place genuinely cares about helping the community and since I enjoy helping others, this aligns with what I want to do.

Hello, my name is Sidharth Gopisetty. I am 16 years old and an incoming junior at Inderkum High School. I am in the International Baccalaureate Program and have grown up in Sacramento for almost all my life. My hobbies include watching and playing tennis, hanging out with friends, learning abut current world affairs, and trying new foods. I play on my school’s varsity tennis team, lead and participate in numerous school clubs, and compete in Speech and Debate and Academic Decathlon. I am extremely passionate about helping others and serving my community and it has been an interest of mine since a young age. I help my community through organizing various fundraisers and events for those in need, as well as volunteering at multiple shelters in Sacramento. Throughout my life, I have always worked hard to achieve my goals and appreciate the help from others along the way. I attended the Summer at City Hall program hoping to find new experiences and opportunities, which includes this internship that broadens my horizon.

After High School, I plan on attending college and subsequently medical school in hopes of becoming a neurosurgeon. I hope to work with organizations such as Doctors Without Borders in the future after I become a neurosurgeon. I believe in working harder everyday to achieve my goals and helping as many people as possible along the way. 

Hello, my name is Jorge Rodriguez. I am 15 years old and I’m entering junior year at Valley High School, while I reside in District 7. I came to the Sac @ City Hall program and this internship so I can gain work experience. My hobbies are playing video games, hanging out with friends wherever, exploring, and playing volleyball.

My biggest achievement that I was proud of was being able to pass my first AP class, specifically World History. My goals are to apply to UC San Diego and live a successful life. An issue I would like to see change is to reduce substance abuse.

Hello, my name is Aleena Martinez. I’m 15 years old and I’m a junior at John F Kennedy High School. I’ve been living in Sacramento all my life. My grandparents took my siblings and I to live with them when we were younger due to many difficult living environments with my parents.

They have been a great help to show me what I want to do after I graduate. It’s been a big dream of mine since I was younger to direct films or act. When I graduate from high school I’m planning to attend a film school with my best friend in Los Angeles.  I owe it all to my grandparents.

Hey! My name is Nathan. I am 17 and going to be a senior in high school. Many people say that time flies and its really true. I felt as though high school was going by too slow and even now as a soon to be senior, it still feels that way. When I look back at everything all my memories from high school, past friendships in elementary/middle school, little things from my childhood, and even stuff that I have done just last year, I realize that it went by in the blink of an eye. Sounds cheesy but when you really think about it, we can never get back those times in our lives back.

I try to live in the moment as much as possible, but its hard when everyone has these standards over you. They expect you to be healthy, and get good grades, and find a job, all this other really boring stuff, and it makes it hard to live in the moment. Cause during our short time on this planet all i want to do is go places with my friends and family, eat whatever junk I want, and not have to worry about if I have enough money to do something that makes me happy or, enough to keep me alive.

So, I guess my message for this blog is to live in the moment as much as you possibly can. Accept opportunities so that you have money to do things when your older and ready to retire. Learn to create a fun and positive environment for yourself so you aren’t miserable. We don’t get time back, don’t waste it.

Hello, my name is Jacob Rainwater, and I am 19 years old. I graduated from the School of Engineering and Sciences in January, 2017, and have been living in the Sacramento area all of my life. My grandmother has been a big help in my life, taking me in when living with family was getting difficult, finding the high school I graduated from, even passing this internship program by me. Being a graduate from an engineering based school, I am proficient in working with computers and 3D modeling software. My hobbies include gaming, reading and writing, and I plan on going to school for a game design career.

I was placed into this internship program from the #SacYouthWorks Program, which my grandmother heard about in the news. To be honest, I was’t really interested in starting work soon, but I decided to give it a try and as you can see, I got a position. This specific organization is new to me, however I see it as a perfect opportunity to increase my media and teamwork skills. I look forward to the experience I will gain and the head start this will give me into starting my career.

Hi, My name is Marisela Corona and I am 18 years old. My family and I were born and raised in Sacramento, California. I just graduated from Hiram W. Johnson High School this past June and I plan on going to community college in August. Graduating high school was a great accomplishment for me given all the hardships I had during my high school years. I’m proud to say that I graduated with a 3.6 GPA.  I am very interested in the Criminal Justice field and I hope to become a lawyer in the next ten years. My main goal overall is to help change lives any way I can. My hobbies would have to include doing research on the criminal justice system (reading the stories lawyers have had in cases they’ve taken on or just random facts), sports, and just chilling. I am a pretty open minded person with a strong personality.

I heard about this internship opportunity from my old 7th period teacher who worked with the city to change school climates. This internship seemed interesting because for someone like me who has only been involved in internships and community service activities this looked like a great opportunity to get the right skills to work for a real job. I have never heard of this specific organization, so that’s why I think it was more interesting to me. I’m excited to be apart of this team and make new memories and learn new experiences.

Hello my name is Crystal Murray I’m currently 16 years of age. I’m an upcoming Junior at NP3 high school. NP3 is a law college prep school. Im originally from  LA. But I moved to Sacramento at a young age.  We moved here for my mothers work. I would have to say that my mother is my hero. She adopted me when I was 5 years old. I came from a poor family. I was neglected and dumped at my great grandmothers house to live. (By my birth mother) My new mother helped me grow through the years, helped me found of what I want to be when I’m other. She’s the reasons why my dreams are going to come true.  The dream is, I want to go to Houston University to major in Business and Marketing. To become a  CEO of the company Apple.  So basically some of my hobbies are to create commercials for random companies. As an example I have and idea for the upcoming world cup. Featuring Gatorade and a foosball  company. (I have yet to find one) I also enjoy creating art for my family and for myself. I’m self taught in most of my successes. I taught myself how to create commercials. I read books about how to write the script and how to do detail like lighting and dramatic effects. My art hobby comes in through my hands when I draw out the script.

I’m always happy to work with other people of the community. I have done things for them that has brought happiness to my heart. I have worked with some people for our fellow soldiers that have been over seas. We packed boxes for them that contains a Thank You card and some candies that they might enjoy. As well as other things that they might need. I also worked with my church community for the homeless that live on our streets. We passed out foods and clothing. The things that make me happy are my 2 little brothers and my older sister. They are always there for me and  I try my best to be there for them. If they weren’t there I don’t think I would have the motivation to keep going on dreams. They are a great push In my life and I’m grateful that God brought me to them.