AddRan Student Completes Prestigious ExxonMobil Community Summer Jobs Program

Pearce Edwards, a junior studying political science and history at Texas Christian University, was one of 60 college students chosen to participate in the program

Fort Worth, Texas

8/18/2011

Pearce Edwards, a junior studying political science and history at Texas Christian University, was one of 60 college students chosen to participate in the 2011 ExxonMobil Community Summer Jobs Program in Dallas. The program, administered by the Volunteer Center of North Texas, provides exemplary students with eight-week, paid internships at deserving local nonprofit agencies.

 

Edwards, a resident of Albuquerque, New Mexico, spent the summer interning with CONTACT Crisis Line, which provides 24-hour free confidential listening, resources, education and emergency assistance to individuals facing daily life challenges. He interned as a mental health resource coordinator and built and maintained a mental health resource database.

“The Community Summer Jobs Program provides the ExxonMobil Foundation with a unique opportunity to support the important mission of local nonprofits and to help develop socially conscious young leaders as they prepare to enter the workforce,” said ExxonMobil Foundation President Suzanne McCarron. “We are proud to contribute to the significant impact these students and nonprofits will have in our community this summer and for many years to come.”

In addition to their daily internship duties, students developed vital career skills during professional development seminars, and collaborated to plan and implement an intern-led community service project benefiting the Creative Arts Center of Dallas.

Since 1990, ExxonMobil Foundation has contributed more than $3.7 million dollars to fund the program in Dallas, which has subsidized 1,535 internships benefiting more than 300 agencies. This year, a grant of $230,000 covered intern salaries and the administrative expenses of the Volunteer Center of North Texas.

Since its inception in New York in 1971, ExxonMobil Foundation has invested more than $17.3 million in the Community Summer Jobs Program. This funding has allowed nonprofit agencies to benefit from the time and talent of nearly 4,700 interns. This year, 267 nonprofit organizations in Alabama, Alaska, California, Colorado, Kansas, Louisiana, Montana, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Texas, Virginia and Wyoming will work with the ExxonMobil Community Summer Jobs Program to help make a significant impact in the communities they serve.