By Ethan Thomas, Communications Department Summer Intern
(The Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe is proud to provide employment opportunities for high school and college students through the Department of Education’s Summer Youth and Career Internship Employment Program. To help report on this initiative, we are proud to share the following summer student spotlight, which reports on internships in areas specific to the student’s chosen career path.)
Rylee (aged 20), daughter of Belva and Dan Garrow, is going to be a junior at Buffalo State University, where she majors in Early Childhood Development and plays on their women’s hockey team. This summer, she is a member of the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe’s Student Internship “Team”, where she is working at the Akwesasne Boys & Girls Club as a Summer Recreation Worker.
Being a Summer Recreation Worker requires helping guide and ensuring the safety of the club youth; as they engage in programming, field trips, and other activities. Rylee said her favorite part of the student internship is getting to know the kids in her group and seeing them grow over the course of the summer. She also appreciates gaining valuable work experience, as opposed to being taught from a book.
Rylee credits her mother Belva, who was an elementary teacher at Tsi Snaihne School, for helping spark her interest in becoming a teacher. Seeing the impact her mother continues to have on children in school has made Rylee want to follow in her footsteps.
After the summer, Rylee is proud to resume being a student athlete -- where she has balance classwork, practice, and personal time; which isn’t easy, but is something she knows has to get done. It keeps her busy and motivated, though she hopes to find the time to travel and explore the world.
Well, we are very glad that you traveled home Rylee and joined our team at the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe for the summer!
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The Saint Regis Mohawk Tribal Council is the duly elected and federally recognized government of the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe.