Here at Devine + Partners we are committed to investing in talent, and we take pride in educating the leaders of tomorrow. Since our founding, we estimate that over 90 interns have passed through our doors. Throughout the year we take these young college students under our wings and show them the day-to-day experience at a Philadelphia PR agency, from answering phones, writing professional emails, drafting news releases and media advisories, writing social media posts, doing research and attending client events. It is our goal that they walk away with a better understanding of what we do and grow to be stronger individuals with more skills, knowledge and life experiences. They may also decide that PR isn’t for them and we are good with that too. It’s all about learning – about the business and about themselves.
But just as much as our interns learn from us, year-after-year we listen and learn from them. Their insights are valuable and have helped to shape our internship program into to what it is today. They bring a new and fresh set of eyes to our work and allow us to understand what the next generation is seeking from society.
We believe that internships should provide an opportunity for students to develop, enhance and advance two distinct skill-sets: fundamental and professional skills. We strive to emphasize the professional skills because as you may know, not everyone pursues a job in the same field as their college major and often not even in the same field where they interned. Like we said above, whether the students that walk into our office each semester decide to go into public relations or not, they can all benefit from building a professional skill set that prepares them for their future endeavors.
Aside from hosting our collegiate interns this semester, we are happy to be one of the newest job partners with Cristo Rey Philadelphia High School, the school that works. We’ve been working with Cristo Rey since its founding, but this year we are over the moon to take on an additional role! As a job partner, we are welcoming two students to be our newest D+P team members as our work study superstars. Aisata and Mackenzie, both freshman, will join us all year long to learn the ins and outs of the business world through the lens of what we do here at D+P. They, along with the rest of their fellow classmates, will work one day a week in real jobs across the region. This unique work-study program also helps to offset the cost of their education at Cristo Rey.
To kick off the school year, we attended Cristo Rey’s Signing Day, a professional sports “draft-style” event where instead of getting drafted to teams, students are drafted to an array of participating companies. This year marks the seventh year of the program at Cristo Rey and in that time, the work study program has grown to include 95 job partners in a multitude of industries throughout the Philadelphia region.
We are happy to welcome Aisata & Mackenzie to the D+P team! We are thrilled to be able to mentor these young ladies.
We are so happy to be a part of this empowering program at Cristo Rey and to join our clients who are also investing in the talent at Cristo Rey. Take a look at our video below to get an inside look at Cristo Rey’s Signing Day!
