Pharrell Williams is paving a way for the youth.
Over the weekend, the producer delivered the keynote speech at Harlem Children Zone Promise Academy’s 2019 graduation ceremony. Everyone in the room was thrilled to find out that Pharrell is offering internships to the entire graduating class following the students’ first year of college.
“So let me be clear, every member of the 2019 graduating class, is guaranteed an internship waiting for them, you, next summer,” he said to the graduating class. “It’s one thing to be ‘woke,’ another to be awake, leaned in, and engaged.”
While speaking with BuzzFeed News, Anne Williams-Isom, the CEO of Harlem Children’s Zone, informed the news outlet that the internship program was created with the “Happy” singer to give students access to opportunities.
“In order for us to get our community, these children, and these families out of poverty, we want to make sure that they are connected to a livable wage,” Williams-Isom said. “And we know that for so many of our young people, the way that they’re going to be able to do that is with that college degree in their hands, but also with some experience from very good internships that they will be able to do while they’re in college.”
Although the school didn’t specify the details of the internship, it is guaranteed to fall in line with the students’ career goals. The valedictorian of the 2019 class, Jada Warmington, acknowledges that this is an opportunity of a lifetime.
“When he guaranteed my entire class with an internship, I knew that this a stepping-stone into something great,” Warmington said. “I just knew that next summer was gonna be the summer for me, because I was a little bit worried about going into college and not knowing what’s next, like how am I gonna prepare for internships for the fall and summer, especially the really competitive ones.”
Take a look at Pharrell Williams’ life-changing announcement below.