Change A Student’s Life This Summer
Yleana is Hiring!
We are looking for talented, passionate staff this summer for our residential summer academy, the Yleana Leadership Academy.
The Yleana Leadership Academy takes pride in serving rising high school seniors, the majority of whom are low-income first-generation students of color from historically marginalized urban areas, specifically Baltimore, Boston, New York City, and Philadelphia.
Our staff are people who are constantly generating new and better ways to do things, drawing on what they have seen, read, and experienced, who replace “I can’t do that” with “Let’s make it happen.” We prefer staff who can improvise, who are creative, who approach problems in unexpected ways, and who generally understand how to communicate to diverse groups of students.
Will you join us?
“My biggest moment of discovery at Yleana was that I am enough and I don’t have to be like everyone else to be enough. Being at Yleana and around Alyssa and the caring counselors that had so much faith in me made me realize I need to also have that positive faith in myself also.”
“I really love both the staff and the students here at Yleana. It has been a wonderful experience going to Yleana both academically and social wise. I have made so many wonderful connections with people throughout this entire journey that I will forever be proud of.”
Yleana is hiring talented college students this summer
Summer Program Life
Founded in 2013 to give youth a chance to close the standardized test achievement gap, the Yleana Leadership Academy is a summer sleep-away experience on a college campus.
At our program, students:
improve their SAT exam/fundamental skills
hone their higher order thinking skills
get a taste of college life
work on soft skills for college and career readiness
enjoy a traditional summer experience
More than just SAT prep, the Yleana Leadership Academy allows students to get their first taste of college life (and for many, their first experience away from home), in a loving, welcoming, and introspective community that relies on trauma-informed care and positive behavior modeling.
Our internally developed curriculum hinges on approaching the test strategically, making it accessible to students from all academic backgrounds. Our students leave the program ready to hit new heights on the SAT, but also ready for college and success beyond, knowing that they have a safety net and a loving family they can always rely on.
Staff at Yleana are central to creating the environment that we and our students value so much. Read more about the program below, and keep scrolling for the summer schedule. If you have any questions, email us at workwithus@yleana.org. We look forward to reading your application!
Summer 2023 Information
In summer 2023, we are planning to host the program in person at Colgate University in Upstate New York and Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts.
All staff are required to be fully vaccinated against Covid, including boosters, in order to attend the program. All staff are required to attend staff training and both sessions of the program. Room and board for training and both sessions is included in the total compensation package for all staff.
Tentative dates. Staff must be available for all of staff training and both sessions of the program.
Staff training (at Colgate University): June 10-June 23
Session 1 (at Colgate University): June 24-July 15
Session 2 (at Mount Holyoke College): July 17-August 7
Follow-up Program: We will prioritize your application if you are also available to teach at our Follow-up Program after the summer. Pay is $20/hour, and is in addition to the base stipend. Dates and times are subject to change. The Follow-up Program may take place online or it may be in person at one of our partner cities (Boston, Baltimore, New York City, and Philadelphia).
Tentative dates: August 17, 19, 22, 24
Times: 10:00 am - 6:00 pm Eastern (with breaks)
Compensation
Stipends for summer 2023 start at $550 per week. Room and board, including 3 meals per day, is included for all staff.
Stipends are determined and offered based on:
Degrees and/or current year in school
Prior teaching and tutoring experience
What You’ll Be Doing
We are hiring for two roles for summer 2023.
Teacher/Counselor Intern
We are aiming to hire 4-6 teacher/counselor interns.
As a teacher/counselor at Yleana, you will:
Learn all of Yleana’s reading, writing, and math strategies in our extensive onsite training before the program. All teachers teach all subjects
Teach and/or assist lead teachers in small-group classes of approximately 6-8 students
Facilitate open, small-group discussions on topics such as race, class, and gender as part of our Social Justice Issues curriculum
Engage students in breakout sessions during our Design Thinking/Entrepreneurship class - which culminates in a program-wide Shark Tank competition
Lead students in after-class programs, games, and activities
Serve as an RA when students are in the dorms
Other responsibilities as needed
The Teacher/Counselor intern will serve as a teacher and a program counselor. If you have the brain of a scholar and the heart of a counselor, this is the job for you!
Qualifications
All applicants must be currently enrolled in an undergraduate program or have already graduated
All applicants must be able to achieve a minimum score on our internal hiring assessment (included in the application)
All applicants must be highly motivated to do whatever it takes to make the program the best summer experience possible for students. As a summer program, unforeseen things happen every day. Successful teacher/counselors are able to be flexible and remain calm under pressure. This may mean jumping in to help out with something that you’ve never done before, or running a game while your teammates get a different activity ready
Preferred qualifications:
Teaching/tutoring experience, particularly with high school students or near peers
Summer camp experience, particularly sleepaway/overnight camp
Outstanding teammate and team-building skills
Love serving as a mentor and role model to high school students
Exude empathy and patience for our students
Detail-oriented and results driven, highly adaptable
Can relate to our students, who are from historically marginalized communities and often will be first generation college goers
Operations Intern
We are aiming to hire 1 operations intern who will work closely with our program staff and learn from full-time operations staff.
As an operations intern at Yleana, you will:
Learn all of the nonprofit management skills you will need in our extensive onsite training before the program starts
Liaise with university contacts on a variety of tasks including organizing student information, arranging classroom and dorm room assignments, and handling maintenance requests as necessary
Help plan signature events such as our entrepreneurship fair and end-of-program banquets
Maintain a detailed calendar of daily classes and events
Keep stock of office and classroom supplies and restock materials as needed
Process student tests with our automated grading system and prepare test reports based on the results
Help organize logistics for follow-up program
Facilitate open, small-group discussions on topics such as race, class, and gender as part of our Social Justice Issues curriculum
Engage students in breakout sessions during our Entrepreneurship class - which culminates in a program-wide Shark Tank competition
Serve as an RA when students are in the dorms
Staff activities/events/provide coverage as needed
The Operations intern helps ensure that the program runs smoothly, and will assist the Operations staff during the program. If you are interested in pursuing nonprofit management, logistics, event planning and/or marketing, this may be your dream job.
Qualifications
All applicants must be currently enrolled in an undergraduate program or have already graduated
All applicants must be able to achieve a minimum score on our internal hiring assessment (included in the application)
All applicants must be highly motivated to do whatever it takes to make the program the best summer experience possible for students. As a summer program, unforeseen things happen every day. Successful teacher/counselors are able to be flexible and remain calm under pressure. This may mean jumping in to help out with something that you’ve never done before, or running a game while your teammates get a different activity ready
Preferred qualifications:
Valid driver’s license
Experience with Google Drive, including Calendar, Docs, Sheets
Summer camp experience, particularly sleepaway/overnight camp
Excellent multi-tasker, self-starter. Well-organized, detail-oriented, results-driven
Outstanding teammate and team-building skills
Love serving as a mentor and role model to high school students
Exude empathy and patience for our students
Can relate to our students, who are from historically marginalized communities and often will be first generation college goers
“Since coming here each counselor has shown me that the key to doing well on the SAT has been in me all along. I just needed people who supported me and loved me enough to show me that path.”
Summer Program Schedule
The sample schedule pictured below is representative of a weekday at the program. It’s important to note that students need to be accompanied by staff at all times while on campus. Staff coverage at meals, free time, games, evening programs, dorm coverage, lights out, and wake up will be determined at staff training and throughout the program according to a rotating schedule and ongoing conversations among staff.
All staff will have one full day off per week. The days off schedule will be determined at staff training. In addition to your day off, staff will have time off throughout the week. You can expect that you will staff each of the following events throughout the program, though not all day every day.
Saturday
7:30-9:15am: Off (wakeup, breakfast, beginning of practice test)
9:15-10:45am: On (all-hands meeting)
10:45am-12:30pm: Off (remainder of practice test)
12:30-1:10pm: Lunch
1:15—3:15pm: On (student free time)
3:30-6:00pm: On (design thinking)
6:15-6:55pm: Dinner
7:00-10:00pm: On (games and campfire)
10:00-11:15pm: Off (student free time)
Sunday
7:30-11:00am: Off (students sleep in)
11:45am-12:15pm: Brunch
12:15-2:00pm: On (rotating games)
2:00-5:10pm: Off (group activity)
5:15-5:50pm: Dinner
6:00-9:30pm: On (test return)
10:00-10:30pm: On (student free time)
10:30pm: On (lights out)
Weekends
Students' don’t have regular class on weekends. On Saturdays, students take a full-length practice test. On Sundays, students get to sleep in and receive their test scores at night. The rest of the weekend is made up of various games and activities. Staff coverage on weekend activities will be determined according to a rotating schedule that will be set at training.
Example of a staff member’s weekend coverage might look like: