Celebs

#TSRPositiveImages: Pharrell Williams Announces He’s Giving Internships To 114 Harlem High School Graduates

<div><&sol;div>&NewLine;<div>After sharing his considerable musical gifts with fans around the world&comma; legendary producer Pharrell Williams is also showing he’s in the blessing business&period; During his commencement speech at a local Harlem high school&comma; Skateboard P informed the 114 graduates that he was granting them all internships&period;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<div><&sol;div>&NewLine;<div>According to &commat;BuzzFeedNews&comma; the graduating class of Harlem Children’s Zone Promise Academies I and II got a major leg up on the competition thanks to Pharrell&comma; but they were chosen for a reason&period; All 114 graduates of the charter high schools have already received offers to attend various colleges and universities—the internship opportunity is just the icing on the cake&period;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<div><&sol;div>&NewLine;<div>As he closed out his commencement speech&comma; Pharrell broke the exciting news to the graduates&comma; saying&colon;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<div><i>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;So let me be clear &&num;8230&semi; every member of the 2019 graduating class is guaranteed an internship waiting for them — you — next summer&period;”<&sol;i><&sol;div>&NewLine;<div><&sol;div>&NewLine;<div>If you’re wondering how this all came about&comma; well&comma; Pharrell and the Promise Academy administration partnered to create an internship program that would give the graduates the necessary connections for success within their respective career fields&period;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<div><&sol;div>&NewLine;<div>The students were shocked to say the least&comma; but inherently grateful&comma; when Pharrell made the announcement&comma; including class valedictorian Jada Warmington&comma; who said&colon;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<div><&sol;div>&NewLine;<div><i>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;When he guaranteed my entire class with an internship&comma; I knew that this a stepping-stone into something great&period; I just knew that next summer was gonna be the summer for me&comma; because I was a little bit worried about going into college and not knowing what’s next&comma; like how am I gonna prepare for internships for the fall and summer&comma; especially the really competitive ones&period;”<&sol;i><&sol;div>&NewLine;<div><&sol;div>&NewLine;<div>Promise Academy CEO Anne Williams-Isom explained that &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;ending generational poverty” and opening doors that may otherwise be closed&comma; as the main reasons for the internship program&colon;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<div><&sol;div>&NewLine;<div><i>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;So when we have somebody who is willing to say something as important as &OpenCurlyQuote;I will guarantee you a high-quality internship once you finish your freshman year of college&comma;’ we thought that that was very valuable&comma; and we’re very excited about it&period; In order for us to get our community&comma; these children&comma; and these families out of poverty&comma; we want to make sure that they are connected to a livable wage&comma; and we know that for so many of our young people&comma; the way that they’re going to be able to do that is with that college degree in their hands&comma; but also with some experience from very good internships that they will be able to do while they’re in college&period;”<&sol;i><&sol;div>&NewLine;<div><&sol;div>&NewLine;<div>Pharrell is definitely in the generous spirit these days&period; Back in April he announced his partnership with Verizon to increase access to technology in under-sourced schools under the Verizon Foundation&period;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<div><&sol;div>&NewLine;<div>Roommates&comma; what do you think of Pharrell’s generosity&quest;<&sol;div>&NewLine; <div class&equals;"wpra-reactions-wrap wpra-plugin-container" style&equals;"justify-content&colon; center&semi;&semi;"> <div class&equals;"wpra-reactions-container" data-ver&equals;"1&period;3&period;10" data-post&lowbar;id&equals;"50726" data-show&lowbar;count&equals;"true" data-enable&lowbar;share&equals;"onclick" data-behavior&equals;"regular" data-animation&equals;"true" data-share&lowbar;url&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;dev&period;theshaderoom&period;com&sol;tsrpositiveimages-pharrell-williams-announces-hes-giving-internships-to-114-harlem-high-school-graduates&sol;" data-secure&equals;"b4292fe731"> <div class&equals;"wpra-call-to-action" style&equals;"color&colon; 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Danielle Jennings

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