What I learned watching 14 strangers become a leadership cohort

This summer, I spent six weeks as an intern with Coro California, sitting in on sessions for the Exploring Leadership program and talking with Fellows about their experience and what they learned. Fourteen high schoolers came into this year’s Exploring Leadership cohort not knowing each other. By the end, they were running their own graduation without anyone telling them how.

Starting out as strangers in Coro’s youth leadership summer program

In the first days of the program, the cohort naturally relied on commonalities within the group: pets and classes. When the question came up, Fellows tended to direct it to their facilitator, Omar Leal, instead of at each other. Their first real task together was writing a list of group norms, promising to listen to each other and collaborate. While the Fellows came in with listening skills, the ability to think critically and brainstorm as a group, and willingness to participate in the program’s discussions, they lacked the communication tools and confidence to channel that into action. Over the next six weeks, they’d build exactly that.

Realizing you’re not carrying it alone

An early assignment sparked the Fellows into a scramble: research being conducted, plans coming together fast, and everyone doing the math on how much time is actually left. Rosie Silverberg told me she went into this assignment thinking most of the responsibility was hers to carry. “I felt like a lot of it was on me, and I think that was kind of a mindset mistake,” she said. “I think slowly I realized that I’m not alone, and all these people are also here to work hard and help me too.”

She wasn’t the only one who came to that conclusion. During a later assignment, Amrith described a similar realization: he had a supportive group around him and didn’t need to do everything himself.

Abigail Weiss came to the same realization from a different angle. The Lowell High School student, reflecting on feedback she received across her various Coro pursuits, said it felt less like criticism and more like a relief, because it revealed that everyone had been quietly convinced they were the only one who felt unsure. “I thought I was kind of alone,” she said, “like everyone was really confident, but it turns out a lot of people were kind of nervous” about their work.

What the internships looked like in Coro’s youth leadership summer program

Partway through the program, the EL Fellows put their learning into action. Thirteen internship placements sent Fellows across Oakland, Richmond, San Francisco, and San Leandro, into placements ranging across sectors, including healthcare systems, political campaigns, businesses, and nonprofits.

At the East Oakland Boxing Association (EOBA), Rosie spent one of her last days packing backpacks for kids leaving summer camp. “It was amazing to realize that the work I was doing would actually help the kids that were there,” she said. Rosie, along with Dhairya, also spent time documenting EOBA’s work and the impact of their Future Works youth workforce program, putting together this powerful documentary.

One of the most fulfilling aspects of Kaia Sun’s placement at the Pacific Media Workers Guild was her relationship with her mentor, Michael Applegate, a Coro alum and the Guild’s youngest-ever executive officer. Applegate told Kaia about growing up in a small town in Missouri, where the career path pretty much came down to becoming a doctor or lawyer. She started down the law route and eventually left it for labor and public policy work instead. “That was a big moment for me,” Kaia said, “to see where my life and future career can go.”

Maia Pung-Yamato had a similar inspiration in a completely different setting at Alameda Health System. Before her internship, Maia didn’t have an interest in pursuing medicine; she just knew she liked to help people. That started to shift once she was actually inside a hospital, rotating through departments most sixteen-year-olds never get close to: sitting in with patient representatives one day, shadowing service line directors the next, and spending time observing in the emergency room in between.

“I like socializing with people,” Maia said. “That is a really great passion of mine.” It’s a passion she hadn’t connected to a career in medicine until she watched it play out firsthand. By the end of her two weeks, medicine became a potential future career for Maia.

Leadership, redefined

Before this summer, Rosie would have described a good leader as “someone who steps up and knows how to lead a room.” She still believes that but after six weeks, she now views a good leader also as someone who “knows how to work with all types of people, and take everyone’s feelings into account, so everyone feels represented.”

That same development appeared across the cohort. Abigail said she’d started noticing who in her group liked to talk first and who preferred quietly digging through research instead, and adjusting how she worked with each of them. Kaia described learning a different communication skillset: reaching out to people she didn’t know and learning from them. “I’m definitely going to bring that with me through schooling,” she said.

Advice for anyone on the fence

Nicholas Trieu almost didn’t join the Exploring Leadership program. Two days before the deadline, he was still undecided when he talked to a Coro alum he’d met through a local campaign. “It was really cool,” he said, “because she turned out to be my placement house.” Nicholas interned with the Alan Wong for Supervisor campaign, and left the summer with a clearer understanding of what he would do in years to come. “I’m particularly interested in policy and government,” he said.

Kaia and Amrith were both on the fence before they applied, too. Amrith remembers the nerves he felt after his first day. “I was like, I never want to come back to it, because I got scared.” This feeling changed as the people around him made it worth showing up again. When asked what she would tell a future applicant, Kaia advised, “It’s okay. You learn so much, you grow so much… you’re surrounded by a cohort of people in the group project that actually do the work.”

Thank you to our partners

None of this would be possible without the incredible organizations who hosted our participants this summer. Thank you to:

• Alameda Health System
• Alan Wong for Supervisor
• Be A Mentor
• East Oakland Boxing Association
• Habitat for Humanity
• Pacific Media Workers Guild
• Rising Sun Center for Opportunity
• San Francisco Chamber of Commerce
• Social Impact Wheel
• SPUR
• The Crucible
• The Practice Space

Nominate a student for our youth leadership summer program

Exploring Leadership is Coro California’s youth leadership summer program: a six-week introduction to civic leadership that challenges Bay Area high schoolers through group projects and hands-on internship placements. Learn more about the Fellowship.

Every fellow in this cohort started out exactly where a hesitant applicant is right now–a little unsure. Six weeks later, they were running their own graduation.

If you know a Bay Area high schooler ready to lead, don’t wait for them to talk themselves out of it.

Nominate a student for Exploring Leadership today.

Learn more about the program, including eligibility and how to apply.

Speak with our team if you have questions about the program or the application timeline.

Learn more about Coro’s leadership development programs.