Educators 4 Education (E4E)
Title: Building Bridges to Opportunity: Empowering Philadelphia Youth for Lifelong Success
Student Interns:
Ruby Agholor
Drexel University College of Medicine
Valerie Doan
Drexel University College of Medicine
Archisha Ghosh
Thomas Jefferson University, Sidney Kimmel Medical College
Daniela Salcedo-Recio
University of Pennsylvania, School of Dental Medicine
Academic Preceptor:
Tariem Burroughs, PhD, MSEd, MSODL, FNAP
Drexel University Dornsife School of Public Health
Abby Quinn Peterson, DMD, MPH
University of Pennsylvania, School of Dental Medicine
Elizabeth Powell, DDS, MPH
University of Pennsylvania, School of Dental Medicine
Zoë Van Orsdol, MA, MPH
Thomas Jefferson University, College of Population Health
Community Preceptor:
Anthony Singleton
President/Chief Executive Officer, Educators 4 Education
Community Site:
Educators for Education (E4E) works with youth across the City of Philadelphia to provide educational services, professional development/training, advocacy, and social support. E4E offers a wide array of programs and services, including mentoring, summer camps, tutoring, job and career coaching, professional development, and more.
Team’s Experience:
The Bridging the Gaps interns supported E4E’s workforce development initiatives by coordinating career development programs, facilitating hands-on learning experiences via the health camp, and engaging with community partners for a job fair. They helped plan and deliver a healthcare and STEM career camp for 20 male high school students, leading interactive presentations and activities on oral health, taking vital signs, suturing techniques, and an anatomy lab tour to introduce participants to careers in healthcare. Through the Front Step summer program, the interns facilitated job readiness workshops focused on résumé development, interview preparation, professional communication, public speaking, and other essential workplace skills. They also supported the planning of a youth job fair by recruiting employers and community organizations from across Philadelphia to participate. In addition, the interns authored articles highlighting E4E’s community partnerships for the organization’s newsletter and assisted the Career Connected Learning program by contacting employed youth about their worksite placements.
Reflections
Working as an intern for Educators 4 Education gave me the privilege of better understanding the world around me. It taught me to listen first and to mold myself into the person those I interacted with needed me to be. That lesson was invaluable. I learned to consider the situational before the dispositional, choosing curiosity over assumptions and understanding over judgment. Experiences that I once may have accepted at face value are now met with deeper reflection, compassion, and consideration. This experience reminded me that helping and healing does not begin with a white coat. It begins with showing up, listening, and meeting people where they are. Too often, I found myself thinking about the physician I hope to become, when in reality, I already have opportunities every day to make a difference. Educators 4 Education taught me that doing good is not something to postpone until the future; it is something we choose to do now. That lesson is one I will carry with me throughout my journey to becoming a physician.
Ruby Agholor
My internship with E4E was one of the most meaningful experiences I have had because it taught me that genuine relationships can have a lasting impact. The most important part of my role was listening, encouraging, and believing in the students during our healthcare camp and job fair. Watching them gain confidence, open up, and begin to see their own potential inspired me just as much as I hope I inspired them. This experience helped me become a better communicator, a more patient listener, and a stronger leader by showing me the importance of trust, empathy, and consistency. It also reinforced why I want to pursue a career in healthcare, where building meaningful relationships with patients is just as important as providing quality care. I will carry the lessons I learned at E4E throughout my career, striving to make every patient feel heard, respected, and supported, just as I did with the students I had the privilege of mentoring.
Valerie Doan
My experience at Educators 4 Education reinforced how strongly access to opportunities shapes a young person’s future. Working with students during the healthcare camp and career readiness workshops showed me that many are motivated to succeed but have not had the same exposure to career exploration, mentorship, or professional development that I had growing up. This experience reminded me that, as a future physician, I want to advocate not only for my patients’ health but also for the opportunities and resources that allow communities to thrive.
Archisha Ghosh
As an intern for Educators 4 Education, I continued to develop my ability to adapt and remain flexible while creating and being a part of solutions to the needs facing the community around me. Throughout the summer, I reflected on the importance of representation and exposure to different pathways in life, recognizing how powerful it is for young people to see opportunities they may have never imagined for themselves. I also challenged myself to build genuine relationships with the students throughout our camp experience, learning to connect across age and gender differences that had previously seemed daunting. By the end of the program, those connections became one of the most rewarding parts of my experience and further reinforced my interest in building those meaningful relationships with my future patients and the community I serve.
Daniela Salcedo-Recio
Partners
