YouthWorks at Johns Hopkins University

Johns Hopkins hired approximately 250 Baltimore teenagers and young adults as part of the city’s YouthWorks summer jobs program. Five of those teens are working in the Government, Community and Public Affairs office on Bond Street in Fell’s Point, performing a variety of tasks from assisting with video and photo shoots to filing and stuffing envelopes. In true fashion to GCPA’s mission of communicating the messages of Johns Hopkins, our five students have created this blog to document their work  and experiences with the institution’s various divisions and people they’ve met along the way.  Take a look.

With only two days left on my summer job, I can say that this was the best summer job I’ve ever had.  (To be fair, I’ve only had two summer jobs).  When we first started at GCPA, I had no idea what to expect.  Before I started here, I had never blogged a day in my life. But it turned out to be a wonderful experience. Another highlight of my job was that I got to see firsthand what what goes into preparing to testify before a legislative body.  I enjoyed my time at GCPA and I wish it could go on longer.  I thank everyone in the office because they all were nice and helpful whenever we needed anything.

We’re nearing the end of the YouthWorks summer jobs program and I’m going to miss the people I’ve met here. Although most YouthWorks students’ last day is Friday (July31),  my last day is today.  I’ve been selected to do a college tour so I have to leave the program two days early.  Before I go, I’d like to tell you what we did this week.  On Monday we went to Annapolis to do a mock legislative hearing. We did a lot to prepare for the hearing and sometimes it was overwhelming.  Preparing  for the hearing was like doing a big school project.  My fellow YouthWorks members had to research and present written and oral testimony in opposition of or in support of two legislative bills. The bills that we chose were Senate Bill 903 – High school Assessments Prohibition,  and House Bill 205 – School Uniforms. We split up into two groups and created  positions to argue in Annapolis in front of an audience consisting of people from the GCPA office.  I was nervous, but after I started to speak, I did so well I surprised myself.  Now, I know what it feels like to argue for or against a bill.  I learned  a lot of about everyone here and I shared a lot of laughs and joy on the job.  I’m glad I had this opportunity and I wouldn’t mind doing it again. It’s not often that one comes across a job that employs nice people who care about making the job both worthwhile and fun.

Jhpiego, an international health organization affiliated with The Johns Hopkins University and located in Fells Points, employed four YouthWorks students this summer. Here they are meeting with the YouthWorks students from GCPA.

As we embarked on another field trip, this one to City Hall, my fellow co-workers and I, had no clue what to expect. As we entered City Hall, we showed the guard our identification and stepped through the metal detectors.  Ms. Jeanne Davis, our tour guide, was there waiting for us.  We learned that City Hall’s corner stone was laid just a couple of years after the Civil War and the building was finished eight years later. We also learned that a young architect named George Frederick was just in his early twenties when he designed the building after submitting the winning design for a competition he saw advertised in the newspaper. 

One of the greatest experiences of my life is coming to an end. In the blink of an eye, here we are in the last week week of our six-week program. I am very thankful for this great experience, which has allowed me to see a different side of Baltimore through all the “field trips” we took.  Every week here, there was an exciting new adventure for all of us. One week was Homewood, another, APL and Peabody. These were all places that I had never been to and to do it as a job was even better. Writing this blog was one of the highlights of this experience because we were able to document all the work we did and places we visited. To capture what we did, we used Flip Cams to show what we did and where we went. Using the Flip Cam has peaked my interest in photography and video. Overall, my time at Government, Community and Public Affairs was fantastic.  I can truly say that I loved every minute of it.