“The idea here is to spark the idea that first of all this is attainable. Silicon Valley is Apple–an industry leader,†says Lilly. He stressed how important it was for other students to see their peers who may have come from impoverished neighborhoods have such opportunities with companies such as Apple.
Young-Smith says that one key element of the program focuses on the lack of cultural familiarity.
“Some of the students never traveled outside of their home radius and didn’t have the exposure to high technology and the high-performance, fast-paced culture that exists [at] Apple and in other tech companies,†she says. Additionally,”The students are getting exposed to key executives, how we think about the design of our products…,†says Young-Smith.
Lilly says another major aspect of the program is continuous feedback from the students. “Adjustments [will be made] based on feedback. This is not something we are going to do the same way year after year.†Lilly says they would love to grow the program by 50% next year.
“It really is an immersive week designed to help them succeed when they come back for their internship, and they will go back to their campuses and be ambassadors for Apple,â€
Young-Smith says.
For her internship, Hall will work in HR with employment engagement and Seneza will intern with software engineering this summer.