faith_in_action

Yesenia Rodriguez, EYA Intern

Background, Goals and Interests


My name is Yesenia Rodriguez, and I was born and raised in North Philadelphia. I grew up in the church and spent most of my days after school and during the summer at St. Phillips United Methodist Church under the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference. I am a rising senior at Claremont McKenna California in sunny Southern California, majoring in International Relations with a Leadership Studies minor. I hope to enter the International Education industry, preferably with nonprofits surrounding education policies in Latin America.

This summer, I am interning with Fundacion Escuela Nueva, or New School Foundation. They are an education nonprofit based in Bogata, Columbia, implementing the Active New School model in schools across Latin America. I am very excited to be working with their Research and Evaluation team, where I will be evaluating the implementation of their education model and proposing any changes when it comes to implementing their model to help better the students, teachers, and communities in these schools.

I have been interested in the International Education policymaking field since my junior year in high school. That is the year I joined a grassroots organization in Philadelphia called Youth United for Change (YUC). My passion for policymaking and advocacy work started here as I realized policies are one of the most sustainable ways to make an impactful change as it holds representatives accountable. We worked primarily on a mental health campaign. After three years, we successfully pushed the Philadelphia School District to meet all of our demands affecting over 200 schools and over 200,000 students. The same year I joined YUC, I had the opportunity to go on a service trip in the Dominican Republic with the Council on International Educational Exchange (CIEE) and see how schools and community leaders also used advocacy work to impact their communities.

My passion for international education was ignited as I got to see how vital these schools were, not just for the students but for the whole community. Having so much one-on-one time with the students also was highly impactful for me as I grew to care for them and their well-being so much. I was only there for three weeks, so I could not make the changes I truly wanted to see in such a short period, but I still fell in love with the people there. I still pray for them and hope to one day go back and make the changes I would like to see.

This summer, I chose a faith-based internship because I wanted to deepen my relationship with God and intentionally intertwine faith in all aspects of my life, including my work. Some believe religion and politics don’t mix, but I highly disagree. My faith guides my life in many ways. It has encouraged me to help people and constantly think of my community first. It has made me the person I am today and will continue to influence me and others.