Tre’via Blount, 18, recently completed a paid internship with The St. Louis American made possible through the MERS/Goodwill WIA (Workforce Investment Act) Youth In-School Program. WIA Youth is a federal program funded by SLATE.
“I am always hesitant about taking on a high-school intern, because when an intern is not ready to contribute, we really don’t have the staff to bring them up to speed,” said Chris King, managing editor for The American, who supervised Blount.
“But Tre’via had some skills and was able to contribute. While she was here, most of the briefs that ran in the paper were edited by Tre’via. This is work I would have done otherwise, so she freed up my time to do other things. And she did learn that journalism is a grind that involves many things that need to get done but aren’t necessarily exciting to do.”
Blount was also responsible for copy-editing stories and columns written by American staff and contributors and showed skill at smoothing out copy.
She said, “When my family went and got the newspaper I was like, ‘I edited that.’”
She even had her own article published in the paper about college-bound high school students on a tour of Historical Black Colleges and Universities.
King said Blount was very mature and disciplined, for her age – and, in fact, for any age.
“I fully expect for this young woman to be a success story coming out of St. Louis Public Schools,” King said. “We have promised to give each other copies of the books we plan to publish.”
Blount described her book as a “work in progress” and has been posting excerpts on the social media site Wattpad – at King’s suggestion, she said. Blount, a recent graduate of Gateway STEM High School, is currently a pre-med student majoring in biology at Newman University in Wichita, Kansas with plans to become a pediatrician. To incorporate her natural aptitude for writing into her career goals, she is minoring in journalism.
“My family has always made a joke about me being a pediatric journalist and traveling the world talking about all types of medicines,” she said.
“She has a lot of ambition and is going to go far,” said Blount’s WIA Youth Case Manager Beth Oliver at MERS/Goodwill.
Oliver first met Blount during her senior year at Gateway. Case managers provide ongoing support for students throughout the program. Services are tailored to meet the specific needs of each student and may include enrollment at a college or university, financial aid and college scholarship assistance, job readiness training, and supportive services like child care assistance.
In order to participate in the program, youth must be a senior at Gateway or Roosevelt, between 17-21 years old, St. Louis city residents, low-income, and have at least one barrier to education or employment. The program places students at work sites that best fit their career aspirations and pays students on a weekly-basis. Students had an opportunity to work at a wide range of work sites (the St. Louis city chapter of the NAACP was one) and some were hired on permanently, Oliver said.
“They were able to shadow Mr. Pruitt,” Oliver said, referring to Adolphus Pruitt, president of the St. Louis NAACP. “It was an eye-opening experience for them.”
MERS/Goodwill first launched the program at Roosevelt High School and expanded to Gateway last school year, Oliver said.
Roosevelt graduate Richarde Apollon, 19, began his participation in the WIA Youth program his senior year, and like Blount, said he enjoys working with children. Apollon worked at the Adams Park Club at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater St. Louis (BGCSTL).
“I chose to work with kids because that’s what I’ve been doing since I moved to America,” he said.
He is a native of Haiti and moved to the United States about four years ago “looking for a better education,” he said. He now attends Harris-Stowe State University where he is majoring in biology, but said he plans to change his major to drama. Of his experience at the BGCSTL, he relished the connections he made with the children.
“I feel a lot better about my job knowing that I had a purpose of being there,” he said.
Follow this reporter on Twitter: @BridjesONeil. E-mail this reporter: boneil@stlamerican.com.
