Interns are a key part of the work we do at Strategies for Children. Our interns help with advocacy, social media, research, and ongoing projects. They ask questions, share their perspectives and ideas, write reports, and help us expand the reach of our policy work.
Here’s more about the interns who are working with us this summer.
Arleth Gavilanez

Gavilanez was born in Ecuador. She has lived in the United States since she was seven years old and currently resides in Connecticut. She has studied abroad in Madrid, Spain. And she has taken classes on culture and globalization.
Gavilanez, who is a student at Bunker Hill Community College, has also tutored children. She accepted an invitation from her middle school band teacher to go back to her old school and help teach music. And she’s currently an assistant art teacher at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.
Add all these experiences up and you get a Strategies for Children summer intern who is planning a career in international relations.
“My dream is to work for an international organization that helps children,” she says.
Her immediate goal, however, is to become a student at Northeastern University and major in the school’s combined Human Services and International Affairs program.
Gavilanez learned about the Strategies for Children internship through Bunker Hill.
As part of her internship, Gavilanez has been tracking legislators some of whom will be running for re-election this year. And she has had a chance to visit the State House, where she attended a United Way of Massachusetts Bay event honoring legislators.
“Being an intern is a great opportunity to take the experience I have and learn more,” Gavilanez says. “One of the things that I wanted to experience in an internship was to fully understand what effect the work that we do has, and why it’s so important to be an advocate. And I’ve learned about that through going to meetings and doing projects.”
“I think it’s really important not just to act on issues, but also for people to build their own opinions about issues and not just follow along blindly. Understanding what you’re doing and why and being careful, especially when it comes to the lives of others and young children, is essential for advocacy work.”
Elise Ricamato

As a child in Chicago, Ricamato helped her mom run a private speech language pathology business in their home.
“She worked with kids with special needs, specifically autism. And then she started a school for kids with autism, and I’ve just grown up working with her. The school is called Soaring Eagle Academy, and I’ve been volunteering there since I was 10.”
Ricamato considered becoming a teacher or a therapist who worked with children, but the profession that caught her eye when she was working in her mom’s school was being a social worker.
“I loved that they got to be hands-on in their interactions with the kids, and at the same time they worked with families and teachers and staff.”
Today, Ricamato is a second-year Master of Social Work student at the Boston College School of Social Work. And while her program has a clinical focus, training her to work with individuals, Ricamato has a broader focus.
“I’ve always been interested in the macro side of social work, in policy and legislation. And when I work with clients one-on-one, I want to be able to understand the systems that I have to work in as well as the systems that our clients have to navigate. So I applied for this certificate program, which is in Early Childhood Leadership and Policy, and the certificate will be added to my master’s degree.”
As a Strategies intern, Ricamato also attended the United Way event at the State House, and she appreciated the United Way’s broad agenda.
“It doesn’t involve just early education and care. It’s also about financial well-being, supporting young adults, the criminal justice system, and housing. It was really cool to see how Strategies’ work is a piece of a larger puzzle.”
Ricamato has also been working with the Early Childhood Agenda workgroup that’s focusing on the challenge of providing early educators with adequate salaries.
“One of my favorite parts,” Ricamato says, “has been The 9:30 Call. I feel like I’ve learned so much about early education from the call and about the great work that so many people are doing in so many different sectors. The 9:30 Call has been a really good way to throw myself into this work and just absorb as much as I can.”