After sharing his considerable musical gifts with fans around the world, legendary producer Pharrell Williams is also showing he’s in the blessing business. During his commencement speech at a local Harlem high school, Skateboard P informed the 114 graduates that he was granting them all internships.
According to @BuzzFeedNews, the graduating class of Harlem Children’s Zone Promise Academies I and II got a major leg up on the competition thanks to Pharrell, but they were chosen for a reason. All 114 graduates of the charter high schools have already received offers to attend various colleges and universities—the internship opportunity is just the icing on the cake.
As he closed out his commencement speech, Pharrell broke the exciting news to the graduates, saying:
“So let me be clear … every member of the 2019 graduating class is guaranteed an internship waiting for them — you — next summer.”
If you’re wondering how this all came about, well, Pharrell and the Promise Academy administration partnered to create an internship program that would give the graduates the necessary connections for success within their respective career fields.
The students were shocked to say the least, but inherently grateful, when Pharrell made the announcement, including class valedictorian Jada Warmington, who said:
“When he guaranteed my entire class with an internship, I knew that this a stepping-stone into something great. 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.”
Promise Academy CEO Anne Williams-Isom explained that “ending generational poverty” and opening doors that may otherwise be closed, as the main reasons for the internship program:
“So when we have somebody who is willing to say something as important as ‘I will guarantee you a high-quality internship once you finish your freshman year of college,’ we thought that that was very valuable, and we’re very excited about it. 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, 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.”
Pharrell is definitely in the generous spirit these days. Back in April he announced his partnership with Verizon to increase access to technology in under-sourced schools under the Verizon Foundation.
Roommates, what do you think of Pharrell’s generosity?
