I hadn’t gotten on stage since high school and this was a good experience to give me back my confidence and self-belief, especially in talking in public or in front of an audience. This experience gave me confidence and explored a side of me as I read a piece of poetry that I had written. I read my poem in the three different languages that I know. I read my poem in English, Spanish, and Arabic.
– intern Ahlam Daraghmeh

Our education programs catalyze youth and students to question and better understand for themselves their place in the world, all the while providing them with the knowledge that they can navigate their lives with very real and attainable skills. These skills are as simple as listening and public presentation, and as powerful as the drive to succeed in a society dominated by groups other than their own.

VBB offers internships for aspiring college students and over the past three years, our organization has trained student poets from diverse backgrounds including a Vietnamese-American, a Zimbabwean, a Jordanian-American, and several African Americans. To set up the structure of their internship experience, students outline their curriculum needs and their internship is based on their personal interests. Weekly meetings are held to assess student needs and changes are made once interns get a clearer sense of what skills they wish to learn.

Some of the past interns have worked with grant-writing, others with event planning and presenting. Several interns co-facilitated teen workshops and have worked alongside experienced instructors to be trained as arts instructors. Some of those interns have gone on to become full-time teachers or artists working in secondary schools.