Yuwen Michelson’s ’17 practice of writing as a form of self-expression has led to an internship with far greater reach.
Michelson, a sociology major, is interning this summer with Quill.org, a web-based literacy tool that provides personalized, interactive writing lessons for middle school and high school students. She is an operations associate and lead content developer in charge of creating, uploading and managing all new content to Quill’s online literacy tools. Quill.org is a nonprofit that provides free literacy tools to over 100,000 students in 16,000 schools around the world.
Michelson received financial support for her internship from the Arthur Levitt Public Affairs Center.
This summer Michelson will facilitate play-testing sessions for a new product, Quill Connect, now in schools and literacy centers. She’ll also present Quill’s service to school administrators, K-12 educators and ELL teachers.
Quill’s mission, Michelson explained, is to create an active learning environment by presenting students with engaging problems to solve and allowing them to construct solutions. Each of the company’s activities, she said, is “built directly from Common Core State Standards.”
An internship with a company like Quill falls right in line with Michelson’s interests. “I believe literacy is one of the most influential gifts that teachers can give to students,” she remarked. “Confidence in one’s ability to communicate ideas and express creativity in a powerful, effective manner gi ves students a voice in the world.”
Michelson began working at Quill in New York City in January for her internship in Hamilton’s program in New York. Since then, she said she’s been fortunate to connect with many prominent people in the Ed Tech field as well as several people with master’s degrees in education, technology, design and innovation. “These people have been influential in my decision to continue my education after Hamilton,” Michelson said.
Thanks to this internship, the rising senior feels she has found her niche. “I feel confident that I am on the right path and I am passionate about the work and innovation happening right now in the field of Ed Tech,” she said.
